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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 4, 2020 23:36:34 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #251"Into the Negative Zone!"Cover Date: Feb, 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: Annihilus Special Guests: Sharon Selleck, Julie D'Angelo/Julie Angel, Rolf Brandis, Various NYPD Officers, Grey Landers (1st Appearance of), Franklin Richards, & Alicia Masters Official Plot:Reed is showing Ben their new Negative Zone portal, a tube that goes through dimensions from the floor in the Baxter Building, something that Reed hopes will prevent beings from the anti-matter universe from breaching the barrier and crossing over to Earth. When Ben questions why Reed would want to build a device after vowing not to open the portal ever again, Reed explains that the Negative Zone has too much potential to go unexplored. Showing Ben the vastness of the anti-matter universe on his scanners, Reed tries to demonstrate the wonder. All Ben can think of is the threat posed by Annihilus, the ruler of the Negative Zone. Reed also reminds Ben of other threats from that dimension, namely Blastaar and Stygorr, and how they once banished Galactus to the Negative Zone for a time. Regardless of the possible dangers, Reed stresses that they have a duty to explore the endless wonders of that realm. Sue interrupts their discussion to tell Reed that it's time for their first tenants meeting with the businesses that rent out the office spaces in the Baxter Building. Finding the idea of talking about rental issues a complete dull, Ben takes this opportunity to depart. Reed and Sue brace themselves for the coming meeting and after a brief moment to consider that they did not really think through the perils of owning a rental property, the couple wade into the meeting as the tenants begin making demands and complaints about their accommodations. While on the roof of the Baxter Building, Ben takes off on a sky-cycle and is en route to visit his girlfriend Alicia Masters when he notices a snarling traffic jam on the city streets below. Deciding to check it out, Ben soon learns from an officer on the scene that the traffic jam was been caused by two cars blocking the roads. Ben decides to help out by lifting the two problematic vehicles out of the way. Elsewhere in the city the Human Torch is heading to the theater where Julie Angel is practicing for the new play she is participating in. Johnny has taken an interest in Julie and has decided to try his luck at asking her out. Before Johnny gets inside, Julie is talking to her friend and new roommate Sharon Selleck. The pair are talking about the newest edition to their group, Grey Landers, a handsome man who Julie is completely smitten by. When Johnny arrives, Julie quickly introduces him to Sharon before they enter the day's acting class. While Johnny thinks about how things are going with Julie, he is unaware that Miss D'Angelo is actually interested in someone else, and even more-so oblivious to the fact that Sharon has taken an interest in him instead. Back at the Baxter Building, Sue decides to leave her husband to deal with the daunting task of making their tenants happy in order to check in on their son Franklin. She sneaks up on Franklin while he is playing video games while invisible and startles him when she begins rubbing his hair. Turning visible again, she comforts her son, but can't help but think about how his mutant powers may prevent him from ever being a normal child. While at Alicia's apartment, Ben is spending time with Alicia as she packs for a lengthy stay at the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four are exploring the Negative Zone. When Ben asks why the lights are on when she is blind, Alicia explains that she turned them on for Ben's benefit. When Ben once again goes into his doubts about how Alicia could care for a monster like him, she once more reassures him that she loves him for who he is on the inside. Finally, Reed manages to complete his tenants meeting and shows his clients to the door. Now able to focus on his current work he is happy to get working on his newest invention, the Negative Zone Exploratory Module. When the rest of the team arrives with Alicia and Frankline, Reed explains to Alicia how the portal works and demonstrates it by activating the device, the distinctly loud "KA-CHUNG!" indicating that the portal has been opened. After assuring everyone that while they'll be gone for a number of months in the Negative Zone, time actually passes slower on Earth. Soon the Fantastic Four are in the Negative Zone Exploratory Module and it is dropped into the portal tunnel. After a bumpy passage through the distortion field, the Fantastic Four safely emerge into the Negative Zone to begin the first leg of their exploratory voyage. Sometime later, back at the Baxter Building, Alicia leaves Franklin alone to prepare a snack when she suddenly hears the "KA-CHUNG!" from the Negative Zone portal. Wondering why the Fantastic Four are back so soon, she goes to the portal to investigate. When she has entered the room, she is grabbed by Annihilus, ruler of the Negative Zone who has used the portal to cross over to Earth! Brodie's View:The next chapter in John Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR run begins with Reed Richards preparing to bring the team "back to basics" in a way, as these next several issues will most definitely return the team to the "Scientist Explorers That Just Happen To Also Be Superheroes" foundation that was established by Lee and Kirby during the early years of the team's existence. The place they're planning to explore is one that they've dealt with in small doses, but never fully explored, and that is the Negative Zone. Near the beginning of the issue, as Reed is showing off his new invention that will allow the team to explore said Zone, Ben wonders how good of an idea this would be, as there are quite a few enemies residing within the Negative Zone that the team has made over the years. However, Reed's assurances that they will avoid all of these enemies silences Ben's misgivings (however, the very end of this issue will show that Ben was right to be worried, but we'll get back to that), and until the ending of the issue, the rest of this issue, as most of the "Calm before the storm" issues have been in this run so far, allows the three non Reed Richards members of the FF to deal with their personals lives before they partake in this journey. From Ben and Alicia giving each other reassurances on the strength of their love, to Sue dealing with the fact that Franklin's growing up in the crazy world of the Fantastic Four has caused him some emotional damage over the years. Of course, both of these examples I've just named will mean a LOT more by the end of this storyline, but once again, I'll get back to that in a second. I will say that we also get a little bit of a change when it comes to Johnny Storm's love life, as he attempts a date with Julie Angel (the former roommate of Storm's Ex, Frankie Raye), only to instantly lose her to the new hunk on the block, Grey Landers (lol....a soap opera hunk name if I've heard one), as Julie isn't the most deep person, as we've seen throughout her character's existence. However, Julie's new roommate, Sharon Selleck, seems to have the hots for Johnny, and their dating will pretty much take the Torch up to the Post SECRET WARS continuity, where a most unexpected relationship will blossom. Awwwwww. Finally, we get to our main event, as the team does indeed make the journey into the Negative Zone, after Reed's explaining to Alicia Masters (who has volunteered to babysit Franklin while the team is away) how to take care of things in their absence, including the noise that will signal their return. Soon after they leave, Alicia hears the noise that she thinks is the team returning. However, she's REAL wrong about that, as Reed Richards, in his scientific confidence/arrogance, has forgotten that while he has designed a perfect doorway to the Negative Zone, doorways can work BOTH ways, and Alicia is confronted by Annihilus, who jumped through the portal as the FF crossed over into his realm. (Uh Oh!!!) Needless to say, nothing good is going to happen to Alicia and Franklin over the next few issue. However, the FF are oblivious to all of this, and they will spend the next few issues exploring the Negative Zone, unaware that Annihilus is torturing their loved ones and taking over the Baxter Building while they are gone. This was a pretty good issue, that while not as great as the ones we've had most recently, was not as spectacular as those issues were for a reason, as this was merely the first chapter in a longer story. In the next issue, things go sideways for the team (both figuratively and literally), as they quickly discover that their exploration of the Negative Zone isn't going to go as smoothly as Reed figured. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 6, 2020 0:06:57 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #252"Cityscape"Cover Date: March, 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: Annihilus & Ootah (Only Appearance; Dies) Special Guests: Franklin Richards, Alicia Masters, & The Children of Ootah (Tannar, Taiya, & Mama Shonti) (Only Appearance of) Official Plot:On a distant world within the Negative Zone, below a massive metallic citadel a race of aliens try to eek out an existence. Among them is Taiya, a young woman who is intended to be sacrificed as a bride of Ootah, much to the jeers of her people. She is pulled aside by her mortal lover Tannar who suggests that they leave the madness of their people behind so that they can remain together in love. Taiya cannot accept that and suggests that Tannar forget about her and find a new love to have children with. Their discussion is interrupted when they both spot a strange object coming down from the sky. The people rush to see what it is. The object turns out to be the Fantastic Four in their Negative Zone Exploratory craft. Once it lands the team disembarks and begins exploring the area around them. Reed is about to do a scan of the stars in the sky when the aliens attack. Spotting the danger, Sue is able to shield her husband with an invisible force field, but is too late to stop a drugged dart from hitting him. Johnny and Ben fight back, easily knocking back the primitive villagers. Believing that she is seeing demons, Taiya spots the unconscious Reed Richards. Taking one of her warrior's daggers she attempts to slit his throat, but is ambushed by Sue who gets the drop on the alien woman by turning invisible. Suddenly the battle is called to a halt by the alien's leader Mama Shonti. She tells her people that these must be the "four who fall from the heavens" that is spoken of in their prophecy. The Fantastic Four are taken back to the village where they are assured that no permanent harm will come to Reed and he will revive from the drug soon. When Sue asks them about the prophecy that Mama Shonti spoke up, she tells them of the massive citadel their village is camped outside of, a massive complex they called Ootah and worship as a god. Mama Shonti explains that four thousand life-times ago her people lived within Ootah, a technological utopia that provided their people with everything they could ever desire. Ootah eventually grew to take up half the planet as it increased in size. The scientists of their people constructed a living brain so that Ootah could operate to perfection. But one day something happened and their people were forced to flee Ootah. Once outside the massive complex it closed its doors to them seemingly forever. The Children of Ootah lived outside it's walls forever since, but Ootah's walls continue to grow, crowding up on their people. Mama Shonti finishes her tale by telling them that the prophecies spoke of four beings that would come from the heavens to help them regain control over Ootah. Explaining to Mama Shonti that the Fantastic Four are dedicated to using their powers for those in need, Sue offers the team's aid in helping the Children regain dominion over the massive complex. Meanwhile, back at the Baxter Building on Earth, young Franklin Richards wonders what is taking Alicia so long with getting him a snack. His worry turns to fear as Annihilus smashes into the room. Detecting that Franklin no longer has his powers, Annihilus lunges across the room and throws the young boy against a wall, knocking him out. The ruler of the Negative Zone then drags the young boy into the portal chamber he emerged from where the unconscious Alicia Masters has been suspended from the ceiling. Back in the Negative Zone, the Fantastic Four watch as Taiya is being prepared to be made a bride of Ootah. They watch as she approaches the entrance into the citadel. As the door opens, Johnny quickly spots a ray cannon emerge. Realizing that they are sacrificing Taiya to their "god" he flames on and pulls her way before she can be atomized. When the people protest, the Thing demonstrates how their superstitions have gotten the better of them. Tossing a rock at the door way, the Thing shows that the cannon is primed to blast anything that enters its range. This shakes the Children of Ootah down to their very core as they realize they needlessly slaughtered so many of their women to appease a seemingly indifferent "god". Realizing that there outer defenses are a threat, Johnny, Ben and Sue begin attacking the outer walls of Ootah, smashing their way inside. At that moment, the drugs that have incapacitated Reed wear off, and having heard everything that was said previously, rushes off to stop his teammates before it is too late. But he is too slow to arrive as he finds the rest of the Fantastic Four in the main control room, appearing just moments after Ben finished destroying Ootah's living brain. Reed explains that they had done a egregious wrong, in that Ootah was alive and it rejected it's "children" out of self preservation. In killing Ootah, they destroyed the ascension of a truly unique life form. As the Children of Ootah begin ripping the massive citadel to shreds, Reed tells his team that they have just learned their first lesson in the Negative Zone: that nothing can be taken for what it appears to be. Brodie's View:Things go sideways for the Fantastic Four in the first actual chapter of their Multi-Issue adventures in the Negative Zone, literally, as Byrne experiments a bit with this issue, telling the entire story sideways, rather than the typical vertical lay out of a comic book story. There's also an interesting story being told, as the team is forced to have to reconsider their superhero nature vs. their role as scientific explorers, as they end up interfering with the lives of a NZ race known only as the Children of Ootah. Ootah is a giant brain like entity that sprung out of a utopian city that the Children once resided in. As both the brain and the city grew, it eventually rejected its children, who abandoned the city, and went back to the primitive existence they had before Ootah was created. Part of that primitive nature involved sacrificing their women to Ootah in some sort of ritual where they imagined Ootah was an entity that would conceivably take a bride, thus sparing their people of the frightful thing that forced them out of the city to begin with. In reality, Ootah kind of rejected its "children," and the sacrifice of the women was only happening due to Ootah's self defense system killing them as they tried to enter. This is what the FF discover throughout the story, and the final reveal of what Ootah and its children were only comes at the end of the story, as only Reed Richards (who was paralyzed for most of the issue due to being shot with a drugged dart near the beginning of the story) understood what was really going on. Without Reed to lead them, the other three FF'ers, being led by Sue, go into super hero mode, as they feel a wrong is being committed by Ootah with these "Sacrifices." So after showing the Children that Ootah wasn't a God that was judging them during their sacrifices, Ben and Johnny bust into the living city and destroy the living brain of Ootah. This causes the Children to degenerate into savagery, and as Reed explains to them how wrong it is to interfere in an unknown civilization's affairs without learning the whole story, the former Children of Ootah destroy the city of Ootah itself. That's the main story of what happens. We also get a brief part taking place back on Earth, as Annihilus comes for Franklin Richards, and discovering that Franklin's mutant powers (which defeated him in the past) are no longer currently active, flings the child against a wall, knocking him out cold. He then prepares to hang Franklin by his feet in a dark room, where we can see he has already hung Alicia Masters up after snatching her up at the end of the last issue. ( ) We won't see them again for a few issues, but one can imagine that Annihilus isn't planning to play cards with them. All that aside, this was a pretty decent issue, as the sideways art made for an interesting reading experience, as one basically had to read the issue like one was looking at a centerfold. I imagine comic collectors couldn't have been to happy about it, as it forced them to buy two issues due to reading the issue the way it was meant to be read had to damage the book a bit more than reading it normally would. Still, it made Byrne's art stand out a bit more, as there was room for quite a few splash pages. As for the story, it was an interesting one, as it presented the team with a moral dilemma that they didn't realize was actually a moral dilemma until the very end of the story, when it was too late to potentially make a different decision. It'll be interesting to see if the rest of the team learned their lesson from this story, or if they'll run into another situation, guns a blazing, like they did with this particular situation. Speaking of which, in the next issue, the team will continue their Negative Zone adventure, and we'll discover something interesting about Annihilus. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 7, 2020 22:33:16 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #253"Quest"Cover Date: April, 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: Annihilus Special Guests: Sharon Selleck, Julie Angel, & The Kestorans (First & Only Appearance of the Last) Official Plot:Deep in the heart of the Negative Zone a massive and ancient starship known as Kestor's Hope detects an on coming craft. Their leader, known only as the Captain, orders the vessel pulled aboard with their tractor beam. As the ship is pulled aboard a security team goes to meet it. Inside the cargo hold, the Fantastic Four emerge from their Exploratory Module and are shocked by the decrepit age of the ship that they have been pulled aboard, Reed estimates that it must be over ten thousand years old. When the Kestorians enter the cargo hold they assume they are besieged by monsters when they see the Thing and attack. The Fantastic Four easily disarm the security team with their powers, but the Captain orders a halt to the hostilities. He chastises his men for blindly attacking and then welcomes the Fantastic Four aboard their vessel. The Fantastic Four are then taken to a dining hall where they are given a massive feast, it is during the meal that Reed asks the Captain how their people came to be voyaging in the vastness of the Negative Zone. The Captain tells the FF that his people come from the planet Kestor. Millions of years ago, they had a technological utopia until one day the very planet revolted against them. With their planet doomed, the leader of the Kestorians ordered the construction of a massive ship so they could relocate to a new world. They soon blasted off aboard their massive ship the Kestor's Hope just moments before their homeworld exploded. Their ship was damage in the resulting destruction severely damaged their navigational computers forcing them to spend countless centuries searching for a suitable home. In order to preserve their people, the Kestorians put the majority of their population into suspended animation, leaving only a small crew to pilot the vessel. The Captain finishes his tale by telling their visitors that they are the descendants of the original crew. Believing that he can help, Reed asks to see their computer core to see if repairs can be done. After some examination, Reed confirms that the primary systems have been destroyed, but the back-up systems can be restored with some work. As the Fantastic Four get to work repairing Kestor's Hope, back on Earth in the apartment shared by Julie Angel and Sharon Selleck, Sharon convinces her roommate to give Johnny Storm a call to see what he is up to. Not sure why Sharon wants to see Johnny so soon after they last saw him, she puts in a call to the Baxter Building. The person who answers abruptly tells her that the Fantastic Four are not present and rudely hangs up on them. When Julie explains the conversation, she can only describe it as "spooky". She is unaware that the person who answered the call was Annihilus, the ruler of the Negative Zone and a long time foe of the Fantastic Four. Flying through the Fantastic Four's headquarters he begins plotting to destroy the universe of his most hated foes when he suddenly crumples in weakness. Forced to wear an exo-skeleton based on his actual form, Annihilus is forced to remove his mask in order to prevent suffocating. With his own death immanent, Annihilus vows to not only destroy the Earth's dimension, but his own home realm of the Negative Zone in one fell swoop. Back in the Negative Zone, the repairs to Kestor's Hope are complete and the Fantastic Four are able to pilot the massive vessel to what appears to be a suitable an unpopulated world. When the ship lands, the Captain and one of his men exit the ship to survey the world. But after moments outside of their ship, the Kestorians suddenly flee back inside the vessel. Reed is confused because the world was deemed appropriate enough, but the Captain refuses to disembark his people there. Thinking the situation over, Reed realizes what the problem is: after five hundred generations aboard the Kestor's Hope the Kestorians have evolved so that living on a starship is their natural habitat. The Captain refuses to believe this and more determined than ever to find a new world for his people orders the Kestor's Hope to take off again. Not willing to condemn those in stasis to an endless fate in suspended animation, Reed tries to stop the Captain, and this leads to a battle between the Kestorians and the Fantastic Four. As the Fantastic Four fight the crew, the Captain slips away. When in the control room with his subordinate, Number One, the Captain is told the horrifying truth about his people and is shocked by what he is told. Suddenly, Number One commands everyone to stand down and the fighting quickly stops. When the Fantastic Four enter the control room they find that the Captain has committed suicide. Number One then reveals to them the secret of Kestor's Hope: That the explosion of Kestor not only damaged the navigational computers, but also killed all 20,000 of the Kestorians left in suspended animation except for the 500 who became the crew. This was kept secret from the majority of the surviving Kestorians in order to prevent them from being consumed by despair. With his life mate dead, Number One takes on the role as the new Captain and sees the Fantastic Four off on their continued exploration of the Negative Zone. As the Fantastic Four leave, the Kestor's Hope continues on it's unending quest. Brodie's View:Another interesting story from the FF's Multi Issue (and Multi-Week, at least for them, as we find out in this issue) journey through the Negative Zone, as they comes across a giant ship manned by a group of aliens looking for a new planet to live after theirs was destroyed by their sun dying. After the expected bit of initial confusion and fighting between the two groups (as the aliens consider them demons after seeing the team use their powers), Reed and the others are told the story of how this group of aliens (the Kestorians) came to be on a never ending quest for a new planet to live, and the stretchy leader of the FF offers to help them find their new home. After fixing their ship enough to make the journey, the Kestorian ship goes to a new world that is similar to the one they originated from, only for their leader to freak out and flee away from the planet. See, of the 20,000 that originally departed the Kestorian's dying world, only 500 survived due to their cryo-units being damaged. Those 500 traveled for generations, and they became so used to the simulated life on the ship that they became unwilling to accept that things could evolve, to the point of it being almost religious fervor (at least where it concerned their captain). However, once the captain hears the true fate of the 19,500 Kestorians that died in stasis, he commits suicide, and his second in command takes over the ship. The two groups then go their separate ways, with the FF continuing their exploration of the Negative Zone, while the Kestorians resume their quest for a new world. A quest that will most likely never end. A pretty decent story, as Reed and the other members of the FF try to help an alien race, only to realize that they are kind of beyond help. Once again, a moral dilemma, but one that would have ended the same (well, other than the original captain killing himself) no matter what the FF did. We also get a little bit of what is happening on Earth, as we see Julie Angel and her new roommate, Sharon Selleck, trying to get a hold of Johnny Storm on the phone, only for Annihilus (unbeknownst to them) to answer the phone, telling them that Storm isn't there. Granted, I know this moment was to plant seeds of how this storyline will end, but it just cracks me up that a character like Annihilus would even answer a phone to give someone a message, rather than just destroying it as one would expect....lol. I love these little funny moments from Byrne; much like El Diablo having to stop his ranting to make excuses to his nosy landlady in the first issue of this run. Good stuff. We do, however, find out that Annihilus is dying due to his cosmic rod being stolen by Blastaar in MARVEL TWO IN ONE #75, and being that this is the case, he plans on taking back both Earth and the Negative Zone due to his messing around with Reed's devices in the Baxter Building. In other words, he doesn't want EITHER universe to survive without him....what a guy! Once again, though, the FF are oblivious to all of this, as they will be going through their own crisis in the next issue, however, another super hero group will start to notice Annihilus' workings, and this storyline will move towards its big conclusion. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 10, 2020 0:04:17 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #254"The Minds of Mantracora"Cover Date: May, 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: Annihilus & Taranith Gestal (First Appearance of the Last) Special Guests: She-Hulk & The Wasp Official Plot:On the Negative Zone world of Mantracora, the Mantracorians' spiritual leader Tarnith Gestal have chosen a new couple to join the ranks of his "chosen" people. The couple accepts their selection and are led deep below Gestal's massive castle, there they find something horrifying, but their screams are not heard by those celebrating above them.... Two days later, the Fantastic Four are riding a wagon incognito toward the major city on Mantracora on their continued exploration of the Negative Zone. Reed wants to check out a strange energy reading he has detected in the city. As they approach, the Thing is not impressed with the outfit they have given him as a disguise, but Reed deems it necessary in order to mask their presence as much as possible. However their entry does not go unnoticed, as in his castle Tarnith Gestal's computers detect the massive intellect within the mind of Reed Richards, the final piece of the puzzle for his grand schemes. Getting a room at a local inn, Ben and Johnny decide to go out and explore while Reed and Sue spend some time alone in their room. Unaware that they are being watched, Ben and Johnny begin to explore the city and it's many odd sights when suddenly they are attacked by a gang of thugs. In order to save themselves, the two members of the Fantastic Four are forced to use their powers and blow their cover. Back at the inn, Reed and Sue have finished a romantic interlude when more attackers burst into their room. Reed and Sue fend off their attackers when suddenly Tarnith Gestal enters their room and calls an end to the hostilities. Meanwhile at the Baxter Building back on Earth, Annihilus uses Reed's equipment to begin his plan that will see the destruction of both the positive matter universe of Earth and his home dimension of the Negative Zone. Activating the device suddenly floods all the New Yorkers in the area with a sudden sense of fear that forces them to flee the area around the Fantastic Four's headquarters. Three blocks away are the Avengers known as She-Hulk and the Wasp, who are out apartment hunting. When they see the flood of panicked people fleeing down the street, they decide to go and investigate the danger. Going charging ahead, the She-Hulk ends up slamming headlong into an invisible barrier that is impenetrable. Back in the Negative Zone, Tarnith Gestal invites the Fantastic Four back to his castle, and Reed is forced to accept the invitation as that is where his readings were taking the team. They are soon joined by Ben and Johnny who accompany them. At the castle of Tarnith Gestal, the Fantastic Four have a meal, but Reed suddenly keels over -- having been drugged. The lights suddenly turn out and when Johnny flames on to illuminate the room again Reed and everything in the room is now gone. Ben rips through the floor revealing a metallic complex underneath. Meanwhile down below, Tarnith Gestal has hooked Reed up to a massive machine that will drain him of his mind, the same fate as all those he has deemed his "chosen", leaving them mindless husks. Before he can complete this process on Reed, Tarnith reveals himself not to be a member of the Mantracorians, but small alien creature that usurped the role of the religious leader. It explains it crash landed on Manticora some thirty years earlier. His ship needing mental energies to operate, he had been using his position to sap the minds of his followers. Detecting Reed massive intellect made the patriarch of the Fantastic Four a most coveted source, as his mental prowess contains more than enough energy the creature needs to re-power his ship. As the process begins, the other members of the Fantastic Four begin ripping through the metal floor to the levels below. Fighting their way through the tunnels, they make their way into the room where Reed is being kept. However their captor reveals they have arrived too late and Reed's mind is now a blind slate. It gloats at the Fantastic Four as Sue cradles the mindless shell of her husband, mocking them with the false hope that they might be able to re-educate the mindless being that used to be their leader. Brodie's View:A couple of months into the Fantastic Four's journey through the Negative Zone (although, only hours in the "real world," as time moves differently in the NZ) finds them landing in their first real spot of trouble, but some MAJOR trouble it is, especially as it relates to the leader of the FF, Reed Richards. We get a little tease of this at the beginning of the issue, as on the world of Mantracora, we witness the ritual "wedding" of two of its citizens by the world's spiritual leader, Tarnith Gestal, who then leads the couple underground, and to a fate so horrible that we don't see it. Instead, we pick up with the FF, who hidden in the clothes of the land, travel into the major city of Mantracora by wagon, and the team split up once settled to waste some time before they meet up to investigate a strange burst of energy originating in the city. Ben and Johnny go exploring, but soon are discovered, and end up fighting the Mantracorian guards. Meanwhile, Reed and Sue....get it on, which has ramifications for the near future, but for now I'll keep quiet. Anyways, the four are eventually reunited, and invited to dinner by Gestal, who knew of their presence from the moment they entered his city. They agree, but it's a trap, and the four are drugged and pass out. Ben, Sue, and Johnny awaken to find themselves in a room that is really a cell, while Reed awakens to find himself at the mercy of Gestal, who turns out to be a small, bug like alien that has posing as a Mantracorian in a robotic human suit. See, this alien has been trapped on Mantracora a long time, as his ship runs on mental energy, and the various people he has fooled into letting him drain their mental energies have not been enough to power up his ship. However, in Reed he senses a brilliance that might be enough to do the job, and he hooks up Reed to the brain draining machine. The other three FF'ers wind up busting out of their cell, but they reach Reed and "Gestal" too late, as Reed's mind has been drained dry by the alien bug creature's machine, and appears to be nothing but a blank slate; effectively mindless. As we move towards the conclusion of this storyline, it's clear that Byrne is starting to pick up the pace. We see this in the Negative Zone, but on Earth as well, as Annihilus uses Reed's machines to begin the destruction of not only Earth, but the Negative Zone as well. Once he fires up the machines, the citizens around the Baxter Building are all struck with a feeling of fear that causes them to flee from the area around the building. The panicked crowd end up passing She-Hulk (and this is an early example of Byrne's drawing She-Hulk; a character he would get quite used to drawing both in the near future and down the road as well) and The Wasp, who try to investigate the source of the panic, only to be repelled by a giant force field that has surrounded the area around the Baxter Building. This will start to bring other superheroes into the fray, as the Avengers will be called in to investigate this mysterious force field. Heck, we'll even get an issue of the AVENGERS book in the mix within a few reviews, as the climax of this storyline will have some long term ramifications for them as well. I did think it was interesting that the "Minds of Mantracora" really didn't have anything to do with the Mantracorians themselves, well, other than some of their citizen's brains being drained. The swerve of a bug like alien being behind all this (and hiding in plain sight in a robotic human suit) was pretty cool, and we definitely end things on a cliffhanger here, with Reed being essentially a mindless husk. In the next issue....will the FF have to find themselves a new leader? (Double ) GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 10, 2020 21:49:49 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #255"Trapped!"Cover Date: June, 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: Annihilus & Taranith Gestal (Dies) Special Guests: Daredevil, Alicia Masters, & Franklin Richards Official Plot:On the island of Manhattan, Daredevil swings through the city when suddenly he slams into an invisible barrier that even his much vaunted radar-sense could not detect. But thanks to his keen training and fast reflexes, he manages to save himself from a fatal fall some twelve stories down. Going to investigate the barrier, Daredevil is able to find it by touch, but is shocked when his radar sense can detect nothing but thin air. The cause of this barrier is Annihilus, ruler of the Negative Zone who has erected it using the equipment from within the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building headquarters. Annihilus gloats over his impending victory, he explains to his prisoners Alicia Masters and Franklin Richards that he plots to expand a second null field within the first one in order to cause the Negative Zone and Earth's positive matter universe to merge, thus destroying both. When Alicia asks why he is planning to snuff out the lives of two universes, Annihilus grabs the girl and removes his mask, showing his horrifyingly old and decaying face. He explains that he has been rapidly aging thanks to the recent removal of his Cosmic Control Rod, [1] and that rather than face death alone, he plans to destroy two universes instead. When Annihilus realizes that Alicia is blind and cannot see his ravage fate, he becomes furious and tosses her aside. Lunging at the defenseless woman, Annihilus promises to bring her the terrible death that he promised. Meanwhile, deep in the Negative Zone on the planet Mantracora, the Fantastic Four are horrified to find the alien known as Taranith Gestal has siphoned the mind of their leader, Mister Fantastic, in order to use his mental energies to power his ship and escape the world he has been trapped on for thirty years. When the Fantastic Four try to attack their diminutive foe, the alien has a tactical advantage of being able to crawl all over the ship due to his unique physiology and escape the chamber where he drained the minds of all his victims. Taranith then activates his ship, blasting off from the primitive world he was trapped on for decades, taking himself and the Fantastic Four out into Nega-Space. Deep within the ships computers, Reed's intellect has remained in tact and through sheer force of will manages to prevent itself from being dissipated from within, forming a simulacrum of his physical body within in the process. As the ship rockets its way through Nega-Space, the Fantastic Four try to fight their way into the control room, by Gestal uses the ships gravitational systems to send them sprawling. But before he can slay the three remaining members of the group, Reed's intellect takes control of the vessel. Reed explains that Gestal became far too greedy in collecting his mental energies, which were beyond what was needed to power the ship, thus his intellect remained intact and capable to taking control of the ship. Reed then uses the ship's gravity controls against Gestal and allows the Fantastic Four to get into the control room. While Johnny is shocked to see Reed's visage on the control monitor, Taranith manages to slip away in an escape pod. Although the alien manages to escape, he quickly realizes that the escape pod was damaged when his ship originally crashed landed and a malfunction causes it to explode, seemingly killing their foe in the process. Reed explains to the team that he has taken full control of the alien ship and has piloted a course back to the distortion barrier so that they can return back to their dimension. The trip takes about two weeks of Negative Zone time, and in that period Reed constructs a Cyber-Helmet that allows him to link his intellect with his physical body, a temporary solution to the problem at hand. When they arrive in the distortion area, Reed is shocked to find the shattered fragments of his Negative Zone tunnel. With their safest means to return home destroyed, Reed tells his crew that the only way they can make it back home is to travel through the dimensional interface between the positive and anti-matter universes, and travelling through that space could mean their utter destruction. Brodie's View:As zero hour comes closer and closer for Annihilus, at least as far as his big plan is concerned, the FF try to take revenge on the alien bug creature that drained the mind of their leader, Reed Richards, to fuel his ship (which runs on psionic energy). However, the alien ends up being faster and more resourceful than the rest of the team had counted on, and actually escapes the ship (which has been taken over by Reed Richards, whose essence has taken over the computer controls of the alien's ship), but the escape pod it dipped out in turns out to be faulty, and explodes, killing the alien bug creature. However, the FF really don't have time to mourn its death (if they even would), as they end up using Reed's instructions to construct a helmet that would allow Reed to be able to control his now lifeless body through the computer. With Reed now at least somewhat physically back and in charge, they try to chart a course for Earth, only to find that the Negative Zone and Earth actually appear to be merging, and with their gateway destroyed (by Annihilus, who wanted to make sure the door to the NG was locked behind him), they must find a way to return to the 616 reality and stop Annihilus' (although, they don't know for sure that he's the one responsible; other than Alicia Masters and Franklin Richards, who we'll get back to in a second, no one knows at this point) plan, both the Negative Zone and the 616 reality will be destroyed(!)( ). That's the story on the FF's side of things, but back on Earth, we see other heroes starting to notice the giant expanding barrier that Annihilus has created around the Baxter Building. In particular, we see Daredevil, who sees things on a far different level than most of the other heroes, due to his enhanced "sonar" ability, slapping against the barrier, and then trying to figure out what it could be. We also see the main man himself, Annihilus, bragging to Alicia Masters and Franklin Richards, who are still strung upside down, as they have been for a few issues now. He takes off his helmet and reveals his quickly decomposing face to Alicia, who, of course, can't see it because she's blind. This ends up pissing Annihilus off even more, and as things build to their breaking point, he gets back to the business of torturing the blind sculptress to death (Double ). Once again, as this story builds to its big conclusion, Byrne is picking up the pace to a breakneck speed, and putting characters on both sides of the reality gulf into dire straits (and not the band). This story will end in the next issue of the FANTASTIC FOUR comic (with a MASSIVE change for the team, as well as the status quo, at least for as little while, for the book), but the next review will cover a one issue crossover with THE MIGHTY AVENGERS, as, after She-Hulk and The Wasp encountering Annihilus' barrier in the last issue, Marvel's Mightiest Team is assembled to try to do what they can to break through that barrier. I will say that their effort doesn't end very well for one of them. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 23, 2020 0:04:36 GMT -5
The Avengers #233"The Annihilation Gambit!"Cover Date: July, 1983 Writer(s): Roger Stern & John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Captain Marvel II (Monica Rambeau), She-Hulk, The Wasp, & Starfox) Villain/s: Annihilus Special Guests: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing), Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, The Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Bernie Rosenthal, Cross Technological Enterprises (Jorge Latham---1st Appearance of), The NYPD, paramedics, & Various New Yorkers Official Plot:The invisible barrier which surrounds the Baxter Building is the work of the Fantastic Four's nemesis, Annihilus, who has escaped from the Negative Zone and trapped the foursome therein. Having lost the Cosmic Control Rod which sustained his immortality, the mad villain has decided that if he must die, so must all living things. He has therefore generated a "null-field," within which a positive-energy field grows; when the two meet, Earth's universe and the Negative Zone will merge and be destroyed. The Avengers assemble but fail to breach the field or slow its inexorable growth. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch arrive to help, but when the android steps through the barrier, he is instantly deactivated. Fortunately, Starfox recognizes what Annihilus is attempting, and a plan is conceived. Captain Marvel flashes into space in light form and merges with a beam from the sun-orbiting Starcore satellite, becoming a gamma-ray laser which succeeds in neutralizing the null-field. Entering the Baxter Building, the Avengers find the Fantastic Four, who have returned from the Negative Zone. Brodie's View:This and the next review, which wrap up the whole Negative Zone/Annihilus storyline, are the same story told from two different perspectives, but both stories end up in the same place. This issue, other than a few nods to the side stories going on in the AVENGERS book, concerns the Mighty Avengers trying to break through the barrier Annihilus has created around the Baxter Building. This barrier is slowly spreading outward, and as pointed out by the Avengers' newest member (or one of them), Starfox (the Titan half brother of Thanos), there is another barrier within, and when the two barriers meet, it will cause an explosion that will destroy not only their world, but the Negative Zone as well. See, Annihilus is dying, and figures that if he's going down, he wants to take everyone with him. He explains this to Alicia Masters, who, along with Franklin Richards, has been Annihilus' prisoner to torture while the FF, oblivious of all of this, have been exploring the Negative Zone. However, we don't see the FF until the end of this particular story, so, I'll focus more on Captain America and his team, who try fruitlessly to breach Annihilus' barrier. Thor tries to toss Mjolnir into it at one point, only for the hammer to pass through, but then fall to the ground, as if its power had been cut off by the barrier. Being that this is still the period where Thor was bonded to Donald Blake, the Asgardian must leave the conflict before his secret identity is exposed. More dire, though, is what happens to the Vision when he tries to phase through the barrier. Like Mjolnir, he makes it, but as soon as he does pass through the portal, he shuts off as if he had been unplugged from a power source, and falls, inactive, to the ground. This is a condition that would cause the Vision to have to be hooked up to a Titan computer source, which seems like a good idea in the short term, but it eventually leads to the Vision trying to take over the world by taking over all of the planet's computers. That's a little bit down the road (past SECRET WARS), so, I won't go more in depth about it than to also say that the WEST COAST AVENGERS also comes out of this period, so, the Vision being taken out of the game as a major player for a short time wasn't ALL bad. Finally, the new Captain Marvel, who has the power to change herself into any type of energy, ends up flying into space and making a big arc around to land smack dab on top of the Baxter Building. She spreads herself as thin as she can, form wise, which does allow her to penetrate Annihilus' barrier. However, by the time the rest of the team get up to where the action is happening, the battle is already over, as the FF have returned and stopped Annihilus. The rest of the issue is dedicated to the characters finding out just how much damage Annihilus had caused in a short time; none more so than to Alicia and Franklin, which we'll see the effects of in the next few stories following the wrap up to this one. However, the Scarlet Witch is upset, as her husband being rendered inert has been totally forgotten in the chaos. We will see a bit of the follow up to that in the FF's own book, but the majority of it happens down the line in the AVENGERS series, so, once again, I won't go too much more into it, other than saying to check out my review of the trade where the West Coast Avengers were formed, as that goes into a little bit more of the Vision side of things. In the next issue of the FF's book, though, we will see the climax of the Annihilus story from that team's perspective, as they make their way out of the Negative Zone. I will say that in addition to the things I mentioned involving Alicia and Franklin, the team will undergo another major change by the end of this story, one that I've always been a BIG fan of. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 25, 2020 0:34:58 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #256 "The Annihilation Gambit!" Cover Date: July, 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: Annihilus Special Guests: The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel II (Monica Rambeau), She-Hulk, The Wasp, & Starfox) Alicia Masters, Julie Angel, Sharon Selleck, Nova (Frankie Raye), Galactus, Various Skrulls, & Franklin Richards Official Plot: With their tunnel out of the Negative Zone barrier destroyed, the Fantastic Four have no choice but to navigate their way through the highly destructive distortion field between the Negative Zone and Earth in order to return home. Any miscalculation in their attempt could mean their utter destruction as matter and anti-matter collide. Observing the field from an asteroid moored to the ship they have commandeered, Reed tries to explain the dangerous trek ahead of them. Having constructed a portable range scanner, Reed intends to get as close to the distortion field as possible in order to get a reading that will help them get back home. The rest of the Fantastic Four agree to stay by his side, destroying any asteroids that get too close to their vantage point. Tethering himself out to the edge of the distortion field, Reed takes a scan of Manhattan through the area and is horrified by what he has detected. Back on Earth, Julie Angel and Sharon Selleck have decided to go pay a visit to the Baxter Building after the disturbing phone call they got when they tried to phone Johnny. Along the way they spot a group of people gathered outside a store and ask them what is going on. There they learn that there is some kind of battle going on between the Avengers involving the Fantastic Four. Before they can learn any more, Julie turns and sees what's going on at the Baxter Building. Meanwhile, in the Negative Zone, Sue has noticed that a large amount of debris is drifting into Reed's direction. Ben tries to get their leader's attention by tossing a chunk of metal ripped from the ship. Snapped out of his fascination, Reed realizes that sending himself to get the reading could have doomed the rest of the team had he been destroyed, and returns to the others. Back with the rest of the Fantastic Four, Reed explains to them that someone has erected a null-field in New York and plans on expanding a second one in an effort to destroy both Earth and the Negative Zone. He tells them that time is of the essence to get back home and thwart this plan. While deep in the distant Andromeda galaxy in the positive mater universe, a Skrull ship detects the approach of Nova, the newest herald of Galactus. They try to blast her, but the woman is far too fleet for their weapons. She returns back to the ship carrying her master, and informs Galactus that they are in close range of a suitable world for him to consume: The Skrull homeworld. Later in the Negative Zone, the Fantastic Four have been busy constructing a dimensional analogue to the Baxter Building that matches their headquarters in shape and size, an important part of Reed's plan to return them home to Earth. With the analogue constructed, Reed has built a device that he hopes will cause the null-fields created on Earth to localize to the Negative Zone in order to allow them to return home. He now waits for the opportune moment to activate the device. On Earth, this moment comes to pass when Captain Marvel of the Avengers manages to breach the null-field placed by Annihilus and gain access to the Baxter Building. This damages the null generator, and when Annihilus leaps to try and repair it, the device blows up in his face, shattering most of the armor that has disguised his decrepit form. Detecting this action, Reed activates his device, transporting the Fantastic Four back home and sending Annihilus back into the Negative Zone. The ruler of the Zone soon finds himself caught in the pull of the distortion field and is seemingly destroyed when his body slams into it. The Fantastic Four appear in the Baxter Building, with Reed's mind restored to his body. Also as a strange side effect, the FF's uniforms have been inverted -- with the black portions of their uniforms turning white, and the blue portions being changed black. After the Thing introduces them to Captain Marvel, he spots the heavily injured body of Alicia Masters, who is thankfully still alive after the beating she took from Annihilus. Fearing for the safety of their son, Sue rushes off to find Franklin, while Reed and Johnny deal with the fire in the lab. Just then the rest of the Avengers arrive and fill Reed and Johnny on their battle with Annihilus. The Scarlet Witch explains to Reed how her husband the Vision was deactivated when he tried to phase through the null-barrier. Reed agrees to help try and restore her husband, but quickly drops what he is doing when Sue returns with their injured son. As Reed and Sue rush off to the hospital with their son, leaving the Scarlet Witch to wonder what will happen to her husband. Brodie's View: For our last review, we got the end of the whole Annihilus/Negative Zone story from the point of view of the Mighty Avengers. In this review, we get the FF's side of things, which, due to John Byrne being responsible for the three major positions in this issue (writer, artist, inker), we get a superior story than the one we saw in AVENGERS #233, and that's a good thing, as the AVENGERS issue wasn't really chopped liver either. When last we left Marvel's First Family, they were trying to return to the 616 reality, after spending months (hours back on Earth) in the Negative Zone, only to find their gateway destroyed, and a chain reaction building that will merge matter and anti-matter together, destroying everything. To make things worse, Reed Richards is being kept active only by a helmet that bonds him to the alien ship once owned by the buglike creature that drained the stretchy leader of the FF's mind to power said ship. That all being said, this was a great story in large part due to Byrne's letting the FF play their classic roles to their utmost potential, with Reed, of course, being the scientist that has to figure out how to make their way back to Earth and stop Annihilus' doomsday plan (although, they are completely unaware of who is responsible for all of this, and what exactly has been happening on Earth in their absence) at the same time. He does finally, however, and the team try to make their way back through the anti-matter field, which would have probably been stopped by Annihilus, were he not distracted by Captain Marvel, who suddenly beams into the Baxter Building after transforming into a beam of pure energy and slingshotting herself around the moon (we saw this, other than her arrival, in the AVENGERS issue). This distraction causes Annihilus to miss the portal Reed created opening behind him, sucking him back into the Negative Zone and seemingly killing him (although, we'll see the bug like looking villain show up one more time before this run is over....so, yeah on that one...pretty awesome moment, though). The FF make it back to Earth, and in the process, two things happen: the first is Reed's mind being transferred back into his own body due to his passing through the portal (I kind of thought this happened a bit too easily, which is my only complaint from this issue). The second is a change I personally dug, and that's a complete change for the team's costumes, as the passing through the Anti-Matter field caused their costume colors to switch. This is a look the team will keep pretty much until the ONSLAUGHT/HEROES REBORN era a decade or so in the future, so, it's pretty safe to say that I wasn't alone in liking the new costume color scheme. Leaving that behind, we see a more detailed version of what we also saw at the end of the AVENGERS issue, as the FF come back to see Reed's laboratory completely destroyed, as well as the near lifeless bodies of Alicia Masters (which The Thing freaks out at) and hitting closer to home for the "mother and father" of the team, their son, Franklin Richards. This will cause some short term ramifications, as it relates to the team as a whole, and we'll start to see that in the next few reviews. This is not even taking into consideration the little subplot moment that happens before the big climax of the Annihilus story, which involves Galactus and his new herald, Nova, who, of course, is the former Frankie Raye. While flying through space, she encounters a Skrull ship that tries to fire on her. Pissed off, Nova flies off to her master, Galactus, and suggests that he consume the Skrull Throneworld for their insolence. The results of this, which we'll see in the next actual issue of the FANTASTIC FOUR comic, will have some long term ramifications, even reaching up to current events in the Marvel Universe. However, we'll get to that in the review for FANTASTIC FOUR #257. In our next review, we'll get some highly personal fallout from this storyline, especially where it concerns one Ben Grimm, as he must deal with the near death of the love of his life, which is in part due to his (and the rest of the FF's) actions, and this will take place in the second issue of his solo book. Then, we'll get to a wider fallout for the entire team, as well as some Skrulls being massacred by everyone's favorite planet eater. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 26, 2020 0:05:20 GMT -5
The Thing #2"For Beauty Passed Away"Cover Date: Aug, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: Ron Wilson Feature Characters: The Thing Villain/s: None Special Guests: Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, Alicia Masters, Willy Lumpkin, Dr. Jacob "Jake" Grimm, Nan Freeman, & Alynn Chambers (First Appearance of the Last Two; Only Appearance of the Last) Official Plot:The Thing is cleaning up the wreckage in the Baxter Building left over from the recent battle with Annihilus. He finds Annihilus’ helmet and crushes it in his hand. After depositing the waste, he goes downstairs where Willie Lumpkin gives him a letter. The letter is from an old love, Alynn Chambers. Back in Ben’s college days, he met Alynn while he was the star quarterback on the ESU team. The two grew really close together, and Ben even offered a proposal of marriage. But Alynn had dreams of moving out west and becoming a movie star. She didn’t want her fame to cause her to neglect Ben, so she chose instead to break up with him. Now, Ben goes to Mercy General hospital to check up on Alicia Masters and Franklin Richards (who were both injured during Annihilus’ attack). He tells Alicia about his old girlfriend and how she has recently come to town wishing to see him. Ben is scared, because the last time they saw each other, he was still human. Ben later meets Alynn at the Baxter Building. She has recently suffered a stroke and lost a great deal of motor control. She needs to reach out to someone. Later, Ben returns to the hospital. In lieu of recent events, Reed Richards has decided that he no longer wishes to operate in an environment that will put Franklin at further risk. He is disbanding the Fantastic Four and relocating his family. Brodie's View:After all the bombastic action and drama that we saw in the last few issues, it's kind of fitting that the follow up to all of that is a nice, quiet character issue, where The Thing (in the second issue of his solo book, which was the replacement for MARVEL TWO IN ONE, and which would last for three years) deals with both the fall out of the Annihilus story (especially where it relates to long time love, Alicia Masters, who was beaten badly by the former ruler of the Negative Zone) and the return of a woman he loved in college. We do get to see Ben's past with this woman, Alynn Chambers, who Ben met and quickly fell in love with, but had his heart broken after Alynn left him and college behind to pursue a career in acting. While leaving the Baxter Build after cleaning up the last of the wreckage left behind by Annihilus (including his helmet, which Ben crushes with the other wreckage), Ben passes long time FF mailman, Willie Lumpkin, who gives him the letter from Alynn, stating that she wishes to meet with her former boyfriend. This makes Ben a nervous wreck, and he ends up going to the hospital and asking his current girlfriend, Alicia Masters, who is all bandaged up after her beating at the hands of Annihilus, what he should do. Alicia reassures him, which gives him the courage to meet with Alynn, who, as we find out, had suffered a major stroke that left her paralyzed on one side, and that she really wanted Ben's advice on how to live in what she considers to be a monstrous state. It's probably Ben's former love for her that causes him to reassure her, rather than just kicking her out for equating having a stroke to what happened to him, but reassure her he does. The rest of the story, or at least the side plot going on, is Reed and Sue's future after what happened to their son, Franklin, at the hands of Annihilus, which, while not being as bad as what happened to Alicia, makes the mother and father of the team realize that the Baxter Building is no place to raise a child like Franklin. The ending of this issue makes one think that the solution to this problem will be the breakup of the Fantastic Four, but in the next actual issue, this proves not to be the case. I think maybe Byrne had thought about it, but realized, like Peter Parker giving up being Spider-Man, that this is a plot that had been done a few times so far during the long run (even up to that point) of the team. Or perhaps he just wanted a cliffhanger ending that would tease the breakup of the team; I guess only Byrne would know the answer to this. Either way, this is kind of the end of what I would consider to be the "Classic Period" of Marvel, as Jim Shooter would soon embark on a mission to modernize the characters for the reality of the mid 1980's. This would involve some pretty major changes to all of the major Marvel books, both within the books themselves, as well as the overall tones of the books, which would become somewhat harder and darker as the next few years pass. The FF will be no exception to this, and we will see a pretty major change take place right around the time of SECRET WARS, which was less than a year away from where we are currently, continuity wise. However, we do still have a bit to go before that, so, I won't dwell too much on all of that for now. In the next issue, which will bring us back to the actual FANTASTIC FOUR series, we get some character stuff with the team, as they deal with the fallout of their trip through the Negative Zone, as Galactus descends upon the Skrull Throneworld. (There was no interior art that I could find for this issue, so, here's a Byrne pin up of The Thing in the new costume design) GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 26, 2020 23:56:23 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #257"Fragments"Cover Date: Aug, 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: Galactus & Death Special Guests: Nova/Frankie Raye, Franklin Richards, Julie Angelo/Julie Angel, Sharon Selleck, Jacob Grimm, H.U.B.E.R.T,. The Skrull Empire (Skrull Imperial Starfleet, Princess Anelle, & Empress R'Klll---Most Die), Norm Tobin, The Vision, & The Scarlet Witch Official Plot:Galactus has come to wonder if he is dying now as he stands before the Skrull throneworld. Once again he finds himself caught in the moral conundrum of consuming a world teeming with life in order to prologue his own existence. Retreating to the interior of his vessel he continues to ponder this as he continues to grow weaker. Suddenly, Galactus is visited by the embodiment of Death, who reminds him that he has a purpose in the universe to serve and that his time has not yet come. Death tells him not to shirk that great duty before disappearing once again. When Galactus is reunited with is herald Nova, she senses that something is wrong and that he was visited by something that has troubled him in the past. But before she can think on it further, she is sent out to face the Skrull armada. As she destroys the ship, the former Frankie Raye wonders if she is falling in love with Galactus. While on the Skrull throneworld, Empress R'Klll chastises her subordinates for failing to erect the planetary screen that has been previously used to hide their world from Galactus in the past. However one of her aids tells him that there was no hiding their planet from Nova, who seemed to see their planet even with the screen up. R'Klll is joined by her daughter Princess Anelle who asks what is going on. R'Klll informs her that it is the end of their world. Even as she speaks, Galactus arrives on the surface of the Skrull planet. Shrugging off his attackers, Galactus then sinks into the core of the planet, turning into a bubling cauldron of death that consumes all life and decimates the entire planet. With his hunger sated, Galactus goes into a deep slumber, leaving Nova to collect him up and return him to his ship. Back on Earth, Johnny Storm had decided that it is time to move out of the Baxter Building and find a place to call his own. He meets up with his friends Julie Angel and Sharon Selleck to try and find an apartment. Along the way he tells the two girls about his recent battle with Annihilus and how the trip back from the Negative Zone inverted the colors of their uniforms. They meet up with their classmate Norm Tobin who is seeking someone to rent out a loft apartment. After taking a look at it, Johnny is convinced it will make a suitable home for him. After singing the deal they all go to a nearby diner to celebrate with a meal. While at the Mercy General Hospital, Reed, Sue and Ben are still in the hospital where Ben's uncle Jake is looking after Alicia and Franklin following their battle with Annihilus. Reed tells Ben that he and Sue are going to look for a new home for themselves and Franklin so that he has a normal life. He also announces that Sue is pregnant again. When Ben asks if this is the end of the Fantastic Four, Reed assures his friend that the team will continue to go on, just without his family living at their headquarters. Ben is happy to hear this news and while Ben goes to check on Alicia, Reed and Sue go to see their son who is recovering from his injuries. Two days later, Sue puts on a disguise and takes a portion of the Fantasti-Car out to Connecticut to begin house hunting for the new home she and her family will share. While Sue is gone, Reed heads off to do his own business to assist the Scarlet Witch in reviving her husband the Vision. However, when the Scarlet Witch leaves Reed alone for a moment, suddenly the alarm goes off. When she goes into the room where the Vision is being stored, she is shocked to find that Reed has gone missing and that something has melted through the outer wall of Avengers Mansion to capture him. Brodie's View:With the threat of Annihilus put to rest (for now), it's now time to move on to other things, and one of those major "things" was teased in the last issue of the FANTASTIC FOUR comic, as it involved Galactus and his herald, Nova (the former Frankie Raye), who after being fired upon by a Skrull ship, goes back to her master to point him in the direction of the Skrull Throneworld to devour. We get the lead up to that on the Galactus side of things in this issue, as weakened to the point of near death, the planet devourer debates just letting death take him. This leads to the actual Death (the Marvel version; one could only imagine how this scene would have played out with the DC/Vertigo version of Death instead...lol) showing up to tell Galactus that his time to die isn't yet, as both of them serve important functions to the universe. We'll see this explained out in greater detail a few issues from now, but for now, we'll just say that Death's "pep talk" ends up renewing Galactus' desire to find a planet to eat. Luckily, this is the point where Nova flies in (that we saw last issue) to lead him to the Skrull Throneworld. Needless to say, this doesn't end well for the Skrulls, as Galactus shows up and destroys the planet in a little over a day's time, wiping out most of the Skrull race, or at least those that had existed up to that point. This action has long term ramifications, stretching not only to future FANTASTIC FOUR stories, but even those of the X-MEN, as well as company wide crossovers like SECRET INVASION and this year's EMPYRE. For the near future, though, it leads to the very end of this issue, as Mr. Fantastic is mysteriously snatched from Avengers Mansion (where the FF are temporarily staying after a good part of the interior of the Baxter Building was destroyed during the whole Annihilus storyline) while he was in the middle of trying to help The Vision, who is still inactive after trying to pass through the barrier Annihilus had created around the Baxter Building. We won't find out what happened to Reed for a few issues, but I will say that it links back to a moment that happened during UNCANNY X-MEN #167, as after Empress Lilandra (of the Shi'ar Empire) had learned of Reed Richards saving Galactus in FF #244, she had threatened him via hologram over this action, stating that it would be his head if Galactus devoured another planet with living beings on it. Needless to say, after the events of the first half of the issue, Reed Richards is in some DEEP doo doo. The rest of this issue is dedicated to the personal lives of the FF members, as we get the resolving of the cliffhanger from our last review, where it looked like Reed and Sue were going to break up the team. This doesn't end up being the case, as Reed even states that the whole "breakup of the Fantastic Four" was kind of a tired old trope even by that point in the team's history. They decide, however, that while they will keep the team together, Reed Sue, and Franklin need to at least try to have a normal life when they're not superheroing (brought home even more when it is revealed that Sue is preggers....more on that later). We later see Sue house hunting for the perfect place for this, which they will have at least for a while. A more permanent single life looks to be had by Johnny Storm, who winds up getting a swank little pad for himself. Of course, he probably thinks that he and Julie Angel will be breaking in his new place, but it more likely will be Julie's new roommate, Sharon Selleck, who has the serious hots for the FF's youngest member. Of course, with Reed suddenly vanishing like he does at the end of this issue, Johnny is not going to have very much time to get busy, as the FF's threats aren't going to pause while Marvel's First Family tries to live normal lives. In the next issue, the FF's greatest enemy makes a major move against the team at the worst possible time....oh yeah, and he ends up almost throttling a little kid. Good shit, Pal. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 28, 2020 0:51:18 GMT -5
Fantastic Four Annual #17"Legacy"Cover Date: Sept, 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: Residents of King's Crossing: (Emmett, "Tiny," Chet Rollins, Barney White) Special Guests: Julie Angelo/Julie Angel, Sharon Selleck, Skrulls (In Recap Form Only---Skrull Cows & Skrulls that Impersonated the Fantastic Four in the Past) Official Plot:While driving out to a gig with her band the Rolling Dead, Sharon Selleck's car breaks down on a stretch of country road in the town of King's Crossing. Cursing her roommate Julie Angel for loaning her the vehicle, Selleck gives up and tries to flag down a passing truck, but the driver ignores her and keeps on going. Deciding to huff it into town, she comes across a chain link fence surrounding a local farm and decides to climb over it in order to cut across the field. Along the way she spots some strange crops growing in the yard. Curious she sees that they are being watered with -- of all things -- milk. Disgusted at the taste of the dairy product and concerned about her allergies, Sharon decides to continue on not noticing that roots are beginning to rise out of the ground. She runs headlong into a massive farm hand who demands to know what she is doing beyond the fence. Selleck explains herself, but the farm hand turns her over to his employer, a man named Emmett. Emmett also hears her story, and is almost convinced she is not some kind of spy, but still decides to take her into town to Chet Rollins, the town sheriff. At the local police station, she explains her story yet again and when the sheriff tells her that he will arrange to have her car fixed and have her on her way the next day, Sharon is delighted as she does not want to spend anymore time in this town than she has to. She is sent over to the Lord's Hotel across the street where she will be set up with a room for the night. As she leaves, Chet assures Emmett that she is not leaving town alive and puts a call in to Barney White at the hotel. Barney finishes his phone call just as Sharon enters the hotel and she is soon given a room. With time to kill, she decides to check out the town. As she walks through King's Crossing she is more than a little disturbed with how nobody seems to notice her at all. As she passes by a young boy, she is unaware that he suddenly shape-shifts into a dog and begins to follow her. Getting hungry, Sharon pops into a nearby cafe, she finds most of the items are not on the menu except for eggs, toast, and milk. After her disappointing meal, she decides to go to the local garage to check on her car. There she is told by the mechanic that her car can be fixed by tomorrow when he can get the missing part that needs to be replaced. That night as she tries to sleep, Sharon becomes violently ill, as though she has been drinking milk. The following morning, Sharon goes to the garage to find that it's closed with a sign informing people that the owner has gone fishing. Furious, she pays a visit to the sheriff, who reminds her to keep a civil tongue and be patient. Back out on the street, Sharon goes back to the diner for another unsatisfying meal of eggs and another night of sickness. Waking up from a horrible nightmare, Sharon decides to call Julie for help. As Sharon begins trying to explain to her roommate what happened, the phone connection dies before Selleck can tell her what town she is in. Having had enough of the strange town, Sharon decides to slip out in the night. At first the town is deserted, but as she reaches the farmland she soon discovers that the locals are following after her and she makes a run for it. Hit by more illness, Sharon quickly gets cover in a drainage pipe and continues on her way. Down the road she come across a phone booth and puts in a frantic call to the Fantastic Four. As she tries to get a hold of the Human Torch, the FF's robotic receptionist Roberta tells her that Johnny Storm is not in. Before she can leave a complete message, Sharon is attacked by plants that have sprouted out of the ground, leaving the phone off the hook. Seven hours later, Johnny is flying over New York City happy to hear that his nephew Franklin and Alicia Masters are expected to make a full recovery and that the Fantastic Four are going to be remaining together. He decides to pay a visit to Julie Angel, who tells him of the strange phone call she had gotten from Sharon earlier and her concerns that something might be wrong. Deciding to look into it further, Johnny takes Julie to the Baxter Building to use the Fantastic Four's resources to try and track Miss Selleck down. En route, they spot the Fantasti-Flare and arrive to find Reed and Sue trying to summon Johnny and Ben. The couple play back the Sharon's recording from earlier and agree to try and find out what happened. Using Reed's instruments they are able to trace the call back to King's Crossing, a town that Reed finds very familiar. They suddenly remember that is where they placed the Skrulls that they turned into cows after they were defeated. Reed also mentions how he believed they were killed in the Kree-Skrull War. With a mystery on their hands, the Fantastic Four go to King's Crossing incognito to investigate what is going on there. Arriving in a moving van, Reed and Johnny try to get a room at the Lord's Hotel, pretending to be doing a long haul move. At first Barney refuses to put them up, but Sheriff Rollins enters and tells Barney to put them up in the "special" room. Inside the room, Sue turns visible. Having staked out the hotel, she has located the room where Sharon is being held. While Reed begins using scanning equipment he developed after their second encounter with the Super-Skrull, he sends Johnny out to find Sharon. While the trio work in the motel, the Thing leaves the U-Haul truck and begins looking around. He eventually arrives at a milk processing plant and forces his way in. Inside he finds a very strange operation: milk being processed and placed in jugs, and massive processing units that seem to refill themselves almost magically. However before he can slip away, Ben accidentally causes the floor to creak, alerting the plant workers to his presence. To his surprise, the apparently normal looking humans begin to change shape into horrifying monsters. Back at the hotel, Johnny finds the room where they are keeping Sharon prisoner and uses his flame powers to melt through the lock. There he finds her tied to the bed where the locals have been trying to force feed her milk. He frees the girl and brings her back to their room, where Reed and Sue explain what's going on. They recall how during the early days of the Fantastic Four, the team were framed for a series of attacks that were really carried out by a quartet of Skrulls. At the end of their battle with their impostors, Reed hypnotized three of them into thinking they were cows and left them in King's Crossing to live seemingly inconspicuous lives as cattle. Reed goes on to explain that the "milk" from the cows was really Skrull DNA, which is incredible invasive and that by ingesting it the locals of King's Crossing have begun mutating into strange Skrull hybrids along with everything else that had been explode to the "milk". Suddenly, some vines come crashing through the window and pulls Reed outside, while some of the mutated locals come crashing through the hotel room door. While the Thing subdues the farmers at the milk processing plant, the rest of the Fantastic Four also quickly defeat their attackers as well. Having suspected this exact scenario, Reed is able to get a special spray out of the U-Haul and uses it on the infected plants. The chemical compound removes all traces of Skrull DNA and causes the plants to return to normal. He then uses it on the locals that were attacking the team causing them to return to normal as well. Having proven his compound works, Reed begins spraying the entire town and sends Johnny out to destroy the crops and milk just to be safe. In the aftermath of the purge, Reed and the sheriff talk about the horrible events that happened there. When the sheriff explains that they have lost a few years of their lives, Reed explains that due to the Skrull DNA in their bodies, their metabolisms had slowed and the virtually did not age while under the thrall of the invasive DNA. Conceding that nothing much changes in their town, the sheriff thanks the Fantastic Four for their help. As the team returns home, Reed muses of the danger that could have happened if invasive Skrull DNA spread enough to get out of the insular facility and the catastrophe it could create, unaware that a shipment of the Skrull milk is being delivered to the nearby Camp Merlo US Army Depot. Brodie's View:Okay. I lied. I completely forgot about this Annual when I was setting up what was going to come in the next review, so, I got a bit ahead of myself. This story, which takes place before the end of the last issue, concerns Sharon Selleck (the current roommate of Julie Angel, and someone who has a romantic interest in Johnny Storm) having a car breakdown right outside of a very strange town. She tries to get help for her car, or at the very least get ahold of someone to come get her, but she meets resistance after resistance, as it seems the people in the town don't want her to leave. It all has a very "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" feel to it, as the town seems to have a dark secret that the townspeople don't want to get out, hence, why they do their best to keep Sharon there. They also, at any chance they get, try to make her drink the special milk that is made in the town itself. Sharon doesn't partake, as she has a dairy allergy, but the townspeople slip it to her anyways, which makes her violently ill. Finally, she tries to escape the town, and the entire town tries to chase her down. However, she does manage to find a phone booth before being captured, where she tries to call the Baxter Building, but gets the FF's robotic secretary instead. Despite this, the Fantastic Four wind up getting the message, and end up traveling to the town that the call originated from, but don't find Sharon. After a bit of investigation of the milk plant by the Thing, it seems that there's something up with the milk, as it seems to modify its own shape within the vats that it's being kept in. Perhaps Ben was the wrong person to choose to snoop around, as his size alerts the townspeople, who end up transforming into monsters and attacking Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew. Around this time, the rest of the team find Sharon, who has been tied to a bed, and is being force fed the milk, which made her even sicker. They are then attacked by the plant life around the bed and breakfast, which, like the townspeople, seems to have gained shape changing abilities from being given the special milk. After this, Reed is able to connect the dots of what has happened. Early on in the career of the Fantastic Four, the team encountered a group of shape changing aliens (who were impersonating the four, and making it look like they were committing crimes) that would come to be known as the Skrulls. The team would defeat the Skrulls, and force them into transform themselves into cows and forget that they were Skrulls. These Skrulls cows would be milked, and it was an offshoot of this milk that would come to transform both the people and the plants in this small town. Knowing this, it's a quick process for Reed to make an antidote to the milk, which ends up transforming both the humans and the plants into their normal forms again, and....that's pretty much it for this story. It was a decent annual, but I can kind of see why this was a one shot story, as it pretty much was wrapped up within itself (for now, we get the teaser that the Skrull milk was being delivered to a nearby military base, but I'm not sure if this was ever followed up on). Plus, I will say that Sharon Selleck is a decent side character, but this story pretty much proved that a little bit of her goes a long way, as she dominates the first half of this story almost entirely. Still, this was decent for what it was, and it least it had some good Byrne art to make up for an okay story. Next up, we get to that child throttling that I promised in the last review....Promise. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 29, 2020 23:49:50 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #258"Interlude"Cover Date: Sept, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: Doctor Doom Villain/s: None Special Guests: Tyros the Tamer, Boris, Kristoff Vernard, Various Doombots & Servo-Guards, Captain America, Iron Man, Gert Hauptmann (Dies), Jim, Bob, Fraulein Mueller, Pierre (1st Appearances of the Last Four), Silver Surfer, Galactus, & Landlaks (In Recap Form Only) Official Plot:Several months ago, shortly after the Fantastic Four's battle with Gladiator, Doctor Doom is in Latveria. For now, he has foregone any major schemes, preferring to concentrate on the rebuilding of Doomstadt after the overthrow of Zorba Fortunov, and to care for his adopted ward Kristoff. Doom allows himself to show an unexpected tender side with the boy, under Doom's protection since Zorba's troops killed his mother. He brings Kristoff to review his Doombots, one of which is destroyed for its failure to kill Arcade for striking a match on its armor during their confrontation with the X-Men. Weeks later, Doom is notified by one of his scientists, Gert Hauptmann, on the completion of a crucial project. On Doom's instructions, Hauptmann has built a device that can retrieve the cosmic power that Doom had once stolen from the Silver Surfer. Hauptmann eagerly invites his master to use the device immediately; however, Doom seizes the scientist and throws him in the chamber instead. Doom throws the switch and watches as Hauptmann's body is disintegrated by the raw energy. Doom muses that Hauptmann, who had long hated Doom for killing his brother, would have claimed the cosmic power for himself if he truly believed in the machine's safety. Kristoff finds Doom in his study, searching for a more fitting vessel for the Surfer's power — a being powerful enough to contain the energy while remaining craven enough to be manipulated by Doom for his own ends. Kristoff offhandedly suggests Magneto, innocently suggesting his power rivals Doom's own. Doom, who considers no other being to be his rival, orders Kristoff away, his rage overwhelming whatever paternal feelings he may have harbored and nearly causing him to injure the child. In his fury, he suddenly remembers an ideal candidate... Two days later, a pair of Doom's sentry robots reconnoiter a Manhattan hospital, where they retrieve a heavily-bandaged "John Doe" that had been found in a garbage pile, with every bone broken. The patient is brought to Latveria where, after being healed by Doom's medics, is revealed to be Terrax the Tamer, former herald to Galactus. His recent memories stripped along with his powers, he now refers to himself as Tyros the Terrible, the name under which he ruled on the world of Birj. Doom convinces Tyros that he can regain his lost cosmic power; garbing the former herald in a containment suit, he bombards Tyros with the same radiation that destroyed Hauptmann. However, Tyros survives the transformation. Now, seething with unimaginable power, Tyros remembers the exhilaration of being a herald — and how the Fantastic Four led to his downfall. Doom easily convinces Tyros to seek vengeance against their common foes and provides a sky sled with which Tyros flies to New York. Doom watches Tyros leave and reflects on his unfolding scheme. The containment suit on Tyros acts as a life-support system, preventing the cosmic power from consuming him, but it will fail within five hours. Tyros's death will remove a possible rival, but in the meantime, the herald will succeed in achieving Doom's ultimate goal — the destruction of the Fantastic Four! Brodie's View:Aw yeah, Brotha! Anyone that really knows me knows that I loves me some Doctor Doom, and this issue puts the recently returned ruler of Latveria front and center, as we see what's been going on with Doom since the time we last saw him (FF #247). As Doom had promised then, his beloved country has returned to the idyllic country it had been before the late Zorba took it over in FANTASTIC FOUR #200. Needless to say, under Doom's iron fist, but most of the Latverians seem perfectly okay with that, as it allowed them the happiness of being protected by that same iron fist. We see Doom attending to the young boy, Kristoff, he came to be in custody of after the events of #247, as his mother had been killed by one of Doom's Servo Guards that had been reprogramed to be in the service of the now insane Zorba. Of course, while Doom is being very loving to the boy on the surface, we eventually see that Doom is keeping the boy around to be groomed as an eventual successor to his throne, as Doom basically forces him to watch Doom go through the various tasks he must undertake as ruler of Latveria. One of those involves inspecting his Doombots, which does lead to a bit of pettiness (but entertaining pettiness) on John Byrne's part where it concerns his former co-creator during their time on the UNCANNY X-MEN series, Chris Claremont, and his use of Doom in UNCANNY X-MEN #145-147. In that storyline, Doom had somewhat allied himself with Arcade to capture the X-Men, and Arcade had kind of goofed on Doom by using his armor to light a match. This moment basically reveals that the Doom that had worked with Arcade was a Doombot, and Doom destroys the robot for not killing Arcade instantly for such an affront to the personage of Doom(!!!). We get to see another example of the endless arrogance of Doom when he freaks out on young Kristoff for suggesting that Doom ally himself with Magneto, due to their similar power levels. Doom instantly snatches Kristoff up, and damn near throttles the boy to death for even suggesting that another superhuman could be his rival. Daaaammmnnn. Am I right? This moment, however, leads to Doom putting together his newest plan to try to destroy his oldest enemies, of course, the Fantastic Four (and by the FF, we really mean Reed Richards; the other members dying would be gravy to Doom, as it's really Reed that has Doom's full hatred). Earlier in the issue, we saw one of Doom's scientists potentially succeeding in building a device that would once again grant Doom the Power Cosmic, which he once had temporarily stolen from the Silver Surfer in FF #57-60. However, Doom, realizing that the scientist, who had a grudge against Doom for killing his brother, was planning on killing Doom with the machine, as the human body could not contain the Power Cosmic unless given that power by a being like Galactus. Doom decides to test this theory by tossing the scientist into the chamber meant for Doom, and the scientist is vaporized by the Power. Thus, Doom realizes he needs a being that can weld the Power Cosmic long enough to destroy the FF before the Power consumes them as well, and he finds his perfect pawn in the form of Tyros the Tamer. Tyros, who had once been the herald of Galactus as Terrax the Tamer, made the mistake of trying to challenge Galactus, thinking that his holding the Power Cosmic would give him the edge against a weakened Galactus. He thought wrong, as Galactus simply took the Power Cosmic back from him, and left the now mortal Tyros to fall (seemingly to his death) from the top of the World Trade Center into a dumpster below (this happened, of course, in FF #244). However, Tyros barely survived, and after Doom sends his Servo-Bots to steal him from the hospital bed he had been lying in, the dictator heals Tyros enough to be able to once again receive the Power Cosmic. Once this happens, Tyros remembers what had happened to him, and with Doom pointing the way, Tyros flies off to destroy the group that he holds responsible for what had happened to him.....the Fantastic Four. This sets up the storyline that will go for the next couple of issues, as the insane and powerful Tyros will once again come after the FF, and a FF that isn't at their full strength due to their leader, Reed Richards, being kidapped at the end of last issue. Luckily, the FF will have a special guest star that will bop in to try and even the odds, but even that will be a major battle. Before I get to all that, though, I will say that this was a KICK ASS issue that really gave us some insight into the inner workings of both Doom and his role as leader of Latveria (as well as being the arch nemesis for the Fantastic Four). Even Byrne's bit of pettiness against Chris Claremont couldn't sink this issue. It's F***ing great. In the next issue, the Fantastic Three are going to have to pull it together, as Tyros the Tamer is coming for them....with Doom waiting in the wings to take out the team if Tyros fails. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 2, 2020 14:58:16 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #259"Choices"Cover Date: Oct, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing)---Mr. Fantastic is Missing Villain/s: Doctor Doom & Tyros the Terrible Special Guests: Sharon Selleck, The Silver Surfer, Martha Winslow, Kate Dwyer, & Danny Winchell (1st Appearance of The Last Three) Official Plot:In Belle Porte, Connecticut, Sue discusses purchasing a house with Martha Winslow, a friend of its owner. Sue is incognito, disguising herself with a brown wig as "Susan Benjamin"; with a second child on the way, Sue and Reed have decided to establish secret identities in order to give Franklin and the baby something like a normal life. After closing the purchase, Sue takes her segment of the Fantasti-Car and returns to the Baxter Building. At LaGuardia Airport, Ben disembarks, aware that his presence has made his fellow passengers terrified of a possible attack. He hails a cab home, brooding during the trip on recent events. Suddenly, the cab is torn in half, and Ben is confronted by Tyros, who has seemingly been restored to his power as a herald due to the machinations of Doctor Doom. Ben attempts to trap Tyros by wrapping the remains of the cab around him; however, Tyros hurls Ben away with a column of psionically-manipulated earth. Tyros strips away the metal cocoon, in the process ripping away the containment suit that Doom had provided him. Tyros revels in the increased power, unaware that losing the suit's life-support system is hastening his own death. Tyros finds Ben near a supermarket in Queens and sends him crashing through the building with a single blow. Johnny, in his new loft in Manhattan, is greeted by Sharon Selleck, who thanks him for coming to her rescue in King's Crossing. After chatting with him briefly, Sharon impulsively kisses Johnny, only for him to be distracted by Ben's emergency flare. Johnny flies out the skylight and heads towards Queens. On her way home, Sue is intercepted by a giant airship that engulfs the Fantasti-Car. Hiding her civilian clothes and raising a force field, she is confronted by Doctor Doom, who uncharacteristically slaps her for defying him. Sue responds by tearing off her enemy's head with a force field shear, correctly deducing that only a Doombot, not Doom himself, would have committed such a violation of his peculiar moral code. The true Doom then appears through a video globe, and Sue challenges him to confront her in person or have his ship torn apart. Doom compliments her on her fire and muses that Sue, whom he once believed to be the weakest member of the Fantastic Four, may actually survive a battle with him. However, he opens a bulkhead, showing the war zone below. The supermarket is in ruins, and both Ben and Johnny seem to be losing their battle against a resurgent Tyros. Doom then presents Sue with her choice: stay on board and challenge him, thereby dooming her friend and brother, or going to their aid and acknowledging Doom's superiority. Sue, realizing that she has no choice at all, curses Doom and flies into battle. On the edge of Earth's atmosphere, the Silver Surfer spies an interstellar matter transferral beam striking New York. He heads back to Earth to investigate. Brodie's View:With Doctor Doom waiting in the wings to pick the bones (or at the very least to enjoy the total destruction of the FF, knowing he was the one that set these particular wheels in motion) of what's left of the Fantastic Four (or rather the Fantastic Three, as Reed Richards is still missing....although, no one, other than the Scarlet Witch, knows that at this particular moment) after Tyros the Tamed (who now calls himself Tyros the Terrible) gets through with them. Oblivious to all of this at first, we see the rest of the team trying to enjoy their personal time (as they always do before Byrne drops a major threat on them...lol. Susan Richards ends up buying a house states away, so, she, Reed, and Franklin can try to live a normal life when they're not off doing Fantastic Four things. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm is busy killing roaches with his flame power in his new place, and is visited by Sharon Selleck, who has long had the hots for the FF's youngest member, and even ends up laying a kiss on him before the 4 Signal sends him into action. Unfortunately for Sharon, it seems like Johnny doesn't really reciprocate her interest, as he still has eyes for the dippy Julie Angel, who is Sharon's roommate. Not that any of this will matter long term, as a most unexpected person will develop into Storm's new love interest in the Post SECRET WARS continuity, but that's a few issues away, so.... Finally, we move on to the Thing, who is wallowing in self pity, while sitting in a taxi cab, over recent events that had happened in his own solo comic. He doesn't get to wallow long, as Tyros finds him, and begins attacking him with a viciousness that he hadn't displayed previously. The Torch gets involved in the fight, but barely holds his own against the now crazed Tyros (who has peeled off the protective suit Doom had encased him in, speeding up his being destroyed by the artificial Power Cosmic that Doom gifted him with, but he doesn't know that, of course), who thumps both of the FF members. Finally, there is Susan, who on the way back to New York, is abducted by Doctor Doom's ship. After dealing with a Doombot, who she quickly destroys, she is confronted by the real Doom, who lays out his master plan to her, and then gives her the choice to fight (and potentially beat Doom, as he gives full credit to her for her development as a warrior) him or to save her teammates from getting massacred by Tyros. Of course, Susan choses to save her teammates, and descends down to the battle below. However, at the very end of the issue, business picks up even more, as the Silver Surfer is alerted to the Power Cosmic related events going down on the Earth below. We'll see more of him in the next issue, as the battle picks up the pace to the point where not everyone involved is going to walk away from....and it's not just the one that one would expect to not make it out of this. I will say that this was a really good issue, with a lot of action. It's clear that Byrne is picking up his art work as we enter this new era of Marvel, as we get a lot more splash pages of violence as Tyros knocks the Thing through various cars and buildings during their battle. In the next issue, we get the big finale to this storyline, and then....we get a crossover with another Byrne book. Yay!!! GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 4, 2020 0:29:38 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #260"When Titans Clash!"Cover Date: Nov, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing)---Mr. Fantastic is Missing Villain/s: Doctor Doom & Tyros the Terrible Special Guests: The Silver Surfer, The Sub Mariner, Aunt May, & Norman McArthur (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:High above the Arctic Sea in northern Canada, the Sub-Mariner flies, looking for the realms of the undersea barbarian lords. Yesterday, hundreds of refugees from these lands came to a northern Atlantean outpost, seeking sanctuary from a mysterious event that has left their waters unlivable. Namor dives into the waters and investigates, only to find his wrist bands dissolving. Namor himself is quickly overcome and sinks unconscious to the ocean floor. In the ruins of a Queens supermarket, Tyros continues his fight against Ben and Johnny. He is halted by Sue, who arrives on the scene and attempts to subdue Tyros. However, she quickly realizes that the three of them are still outmatched by the former herald, and she uses her signal flare to summon Reed. Back in his airship, Doctor Doom surveys the battle, calculating that Tyros will have defeated the three heroes, then be consumed by the power cosmic he wields, just in time for Reed to arrive for Doom's coup de grace. However, as time runs on, Doom realizes that Reed is not responding to the summons. Deciding that the battle is pointless unless Richards can suffer in person, Doom himself disembarks and orders Tyros to halt. However, Tyros reacts furiously at this attempt to deny his own vengeance and attacks Doom. Tyros uses his power to fuse Doom's armor, leaving the monarch trapped and immobile. Suddenly, before Tyros can return his attention to the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer charges into the fray, hurling his full might against the remnant of Tyros's stolen power. As they battle, they unleash unimaginable energy, blasting into the sky as a fireball. At the heart of the fire, the Surfer gasps in shock — what was Tyros is no more than a corpse, animated by the living remnants of the power cosmic. On the ground, Doom rues his error in confronting Tyros himself; with his armor fused, he is unable to activate one of its escape mechanisms. He must try another trick, one he has not attempted for many years... In the group of spectators to the battle, a man named Norman MacArthur shudders, then suddenly drops his groceries and leaves... The fireball created by the battling Silver Surfer and the remains of Tyros plunges to Earth, landing on the frozen figure of Doctor Doom with a tremendous, seemingly-living explosion. The man in the armor screams... A crater of bubbling, molten debris lies at the fireball's impact point. Slowly, the form of the Silver Surfer struggles up, the victor and apparent only survivor of the battle. Sue finds Doctor Doom's battered mask near the crater; with no other sign of him around, she concludes that their greatest foe is dead at last. Sue helps the Surfer to the Baxter Building's infirmary and looks for Reed. However, she realizes that there is no sign that he ever returned from Avengers Mansion that morning. Before she can call the Avengers, she is interrupted by Namor, who is greatly weakened and begs for her help. Brodie's View:Doom's Master Plan goes horribly wrong for him, as we finish up this kick ass three part story involving him siccing the former herald of Galactus, Tyros the Terrible (who was once known as Terrax), on the Fantastic Four. See, Doom had given Tyros an artificial version of the Power Cosmic that Tyros had once possessed (and Doom himself had briefly possessed when he stole the Power Cosmic from the Silver Surfer), but unbeknownst to Tyros, this Power Cosmic will eventually burn Tyros out completely, destroying him. Of course, Tyros, oblivious to everything but his own revenge against the FF, was planning to turn on Doom anyways at a certain point, which is a great example of "no honor among thieves" that I've always loved between hard core heels like Doom and Tyros. However, Doom mainly wants Reed Richards to be destroyed, and eventually he realizes that Reed is not going to answer the summons that Susan Richards desperately fires off earlier, as even the three FF members can't handle the near insane with hatred Tyros. This causes Doom to leave his ship, and arrogantly try to call off the battle, as it's outcome is worthless to him without Reed being there. Of course, Tyros disagrees, which causes Doom to attack him in a pretty awesome moment. This is yet another mistake that Doom makes (and afterwards, in a rare moment of self reflection, he realizes that he made a mistake confronting Tyros in person), as Tyros uses the Power Cosmic to fuse Doom's armor in place, making him nothing more than a living statue. This being Doom, though, he always has a contingency plan for cases like this (as we'll eventually see, he has a few of them to set in motion in the unlikely event of his death), and he winds up switching minds with one of the people on the sidelines, watching the battle (this person, now essentially Doom himself, insults Aunt May, who is standing right next to him, before storming off....lol). And the battle most certainly picks up for the good guys with the arrival of the Silver Surfer, and the two former heralds of Galactus then engage in a titanic duel that ends when the Surfer realizes that Tyros has been completely consumed by the Power Cosmic, and he is essentially fighting the Power itself. They end up crashing into the figure that was once Victor Von Doom, and everyone that isn't the Surfer in that equasion...is destroyed. Of course, Doom will be back, as, eventually, will Tyros, but for now, this conflict is over, although, its long term effects will be felt by the team for a little while to come. We also get the tease of what the next story will be, although, very little of it will happen within the pages of the FF comic, as we see the Sub Mariner dealing with some unknown underwater threat that causes his golden wrist bands to start to dissolve, and he nearly to die in the very water that gives him power. He shows up at the very end of the issue, barely conscious, to ask for Susan's help in figuring out whatever is causing all of this to happen. This will lead us into the next review, which will take us over to another book Byrne was writing and drawing at this time, ALPHA FLIGHT, as Sue and Namor will enlist the help of Canada's superhero team to try and figure out what this underwater threat could be. After that, we'll come back to the FF series, as we will try to figure out just what the heck happened to Reed Richards. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 6, 2020 23:16:19 GMT -5
Alpha Flight #4"Resolutions!"Cover Date: Nov, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: Alpha Flight (Guardian, Marrina, Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, & Snowbird) Villain/s: The Master of the World Special Guests: The Invisible Girl, The Sub Mariner, Dan Smallwood, Gladys Smallwood (The Last in Flashback Only), & Plodex (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:The Sub-Mariner and the Invisible Girl race towards the frozen North in the Fantastic Four's Fantasticar. Namor expresses concern that a great "evil" lies within the territory that has been poisoning Atlantean waters and driving barbarian hordes farther south. Suddenly, a laser array protrudes from a patch of ice and blasts the ship out of the sky. They crash down close to the concealed entranceway into the Master's alien space ship. Meanwhile, Guardian and Sasquatch succeed in finding Aurora. However, the experience has traumatized her, and she has regressed into her Jeanne-Marie persona. Jeanne-Marie rejects her fellow Alphans and takes off into another corridor. Sasquatch feels that he might be able to reach Jeanne-Marie in his human guise, so he shape shifts back into the form of Walter Langkowski. He catches up to her and in an attempt to calm her down, recalls a secret past intimacy, but Jeanne-Marie grows enraged and backhands him across the face. Vindicator meanwhile, flies down an alternate route until he meets up with Northstar, who is only now reviving from an attack by the Master's ship. The Sub-Mariner and the Invisible Girl eventually find an undersea entranceway into the Master's craft. Sue turns them both invisible and they find the Master of the World standing above the prostrate form of Marrina. The Master, as yet unaware of their presence, continues to tell Marrina of her own mysterious heritage. The Master tells her that her species originates from a race of alien conquerors who abandoned their home world millennia ago. As their population expanded, they colonized new worlds, greedily consuming all of the planet's natural resources until it was time to move on again. Forty-thousand years ago, one of these alien hive ships malfunctioned and crashed on Earth in the North Pole. Drawing nutrients from the environment, the living ship grew, insinuating itself into the very fiber of the planet. It then issued forth a summoning beacon, designed to attract the planet's dominant life form. From there, it would genetically copy the life form's template in an effort to breed a new conqueror species readily adaptable to the planet's needs. Thousands of alien spores were launched from the ship, but to the Master's knowledge, only one egg survived intact all those years – Marrina's. Because her egg rested at the bottom of the sea for so long, the alien spore evolved and became amphibious. When the egg hatched, the life form inside genetically imprinted itself upon its handler, and thus Marrina took on a humanoid form. Deciding that they had heard enough, the Sub-Mariner and Invisible Woman make themselves visible and descend into the Master's chambers. Recognizing that he could not hope to defeat the two heroes in addition to the wandering members of Alpha Flight, the Master elects upon a speedy retreat. Vindicator meanwhile, flies throughout the vessel blasting as many instrument panels as he can find. The extensive damage begins to take its toll and the ship starts to buckle. He manages to regroup with the rest of his team, as well as Namor, Sue and Marrina and evacuate the ship. The giant space vessel explodes, destroying a massive portion of the surrounding icy landscape. Sue protects everybody inside of an invisible forced field, and creates a raft for everyone to stand on. The Sub-Mariner invites Marrina to come back to Atlantis with him, so that they can research her alleged origins more conclusively. Marrina accepts and says goodbye to Alpha Flight. Later, Guardian stops off in Newfoundland to tell Dan Smallwood, Marrina's adoptive 'brother', that she is gone. Dan, who has nurtured a lifelong passion for the amphibious hero, is heartbroken. Brodie's View:Before we find out the fate of Reed Richards, we take a little detour that the Sub Mariner's appearances in the last issue kind of set up, and that detour goes through a two part story Byrne was writing/drawing in another book he was doing double duty on at the time, that of the Canadian super team, ALPHAFLIGHT. However, it's kind of interesting that both Alpha Flight/Sue Richards & Namor are looking for the same villain, the self proclaimed Master of the World (I'm sure there are quite a few villains that would have issue with that title), although for different reasons, and as two separate fighting forces, as neither group knows that the other is there until near the end of the issue. For Sue and Namor, they're trying to find out what in a certain part of the ocean is weakening/killing Atlantians to the point where even barbarians are fleeing the region. For Alpha Flight, it's to find out what happened to one of their teammates, Marrina, who has been kidnapped by the Master. To make things worse for Alpha Flight, one of their heavy hitters, Aurora, has switched back into her other personality, Jeanne-Marie, who has no knowledge of, nor wants any knowledge of her super hero career as Aurora. So, while Sue and Namor are searching through the ocean, unknowingly, looking for the Master of the World's underwater base, Alpha Flight is trying to get it together as a team enough to be able to search as well. Finally, they do, but they really can do nothing more than try to make sure everyone in the base that isn't the Master (who flees, his mission in this issue, we can only assume from his words, accomplished) escapes before the base explodes. Before all that, however, we do find out that the base is organic, and is slowly growing underwater, sucking up the oxygen out of the water as it does, which explains why Namor and the other Atlantians were being negatively affected by its very presence in their waters. As for Marrina, it seems that the only reason she was kidnapped by the Master (in the last issue of ALPHA FLIGHT) was that he could reveal her true origin to her, as she had always assumed she was a mutant or an Atlantian of some sort. It turns out that she is actually an alien, and one fated to become a giant monster that will help destroy the world. This will actually happen (well, other than the whole destroying the world thing) later in the AVENGERS title, during the period where Namor rejoins the team, but for now, Marrina denies what the Master tells her, and the Master doesn't really get to offer up any more proof to her, as this is the point where Sue and Namor show up, and things completely go to shit for the so called Master of the World (although, he seems to have counted on all of this to happen, so, as I said before, Mission Accomplished?). Everyone escapes, and then Marrina reveals that she is leaving the team, and going with Namor until she can find out the truth about what she is, and whether or not the fate predicted for her by the Master is a true one. The two, and Sue, head back to New York City, and Alpha Flight heads to Newfoundland to tell the man who had a secret crush on Marrina that she was no longer on the team. After that, I can't really say what happens next for Alpha Flight, as I haven't read enough of the series to really comment on how important all of this was for them. In the next issue of the FANTASTIC FOUR series, however, I will say that we will go in search for the missing Reed Richards, which will eventually involve appearances of a lot of different characters from the cosmic end of the Marvel Universe. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 7, 2020 23:22:53 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #261"The Search for Reed Richards"Cover Date: Dec, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: The Survivor's Fleet (Xxan Xxar, Karant Kiar, & Various others---1st Appearance of All), Lilandra Neramani, & Gladiator Special Guests: The Silver Surfer, The Sub Mariner, Uatu the Watcher, Marrina, The Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Edwin Jarvis, Harry, & George Official Plot:The Sub-Mariner sees the Invisible Girl off with a kiss after he and Marrina drop her off at the Baxter Building following their adventure together on the North Pole. Thanking Sue for her help, Namor picks up Marrina and flies away, intent on showing her the splendors of Atlantis. Going inside, Sue recalls how hectic the past 24 hours have been between their battle with Doctor Doom,[1] and her adventure with Marrina and Namor. [2] Checking to see if her husband is home, Sue finds no trace of Reed Richards in the Baxter Building. She then decides to call Avengers Mansion to see if he is still there working on the Vision. When the Avengers butler Jarvis answers the phone he tells her that the Avengers have gone off to investigate a strange energy beam that breached the mansion earlier, but does not know if her husband went along with them. Overhearing the phone conversation is the Silver Surfer, who has recovered from their battle with Tyros. When Sue mentions the beam that the Avengers are investigating, the Surfer recalls that it was the same beam that drew him to Earth prior to the battle. Deciding to investigate this mystery further, the Surfer summons his board from the wreckage of his battle in Queens. Both the Surfer and Sue go to Avengers mansion and fly through the hole blasted through the wall from the beam. Inside the Mansion they find the Scarlet Witch presiding over the inert body of her husband. The Witch explains to them that one moment Reed was there, the next he was gone and the hole was in the wall. With none of the equipment in the Mansion able to detect where Reed has gone, the Surfer uses his Power Cosmic to peer back into the past. He calls up the past events, revealing that the beam teleported Reed Richards away. The Surfer then gravely informs Sue that her husband was abducted and taken somewhere off the planet. Sue returns to the Baxter Building where she fires off the Fantasti-Flare calling Johnny and Ben back to headquarters. There she begins planning a mission to search for her husband. When the others tell her she should stay behind because she is pregnant, Sue refuses to stand back while her husband is missing. Soon the three remaining members of the Fantastic Four are blasting off in their rocket into space. Along the way, the Thing recollects how it was a space flight that led to the accident that gave them their powers. [3] Soon they reach the Blue Area of the Moon where they rocket past the Inhumans home of Attilan and head for the citadel of the Watcher. Exiting their ship, the group then walk inside and begin searching for the Watcher in the hopes that he will help them find Reed. Johnny speeds ahead but he quickly loses track of his teammates in the massive citadel. Meanwhile, Sue and Ben are greeted by the Watcher. Uatu informs them that he knows why they are there and agrees to take them to the location of Reed Richards as he was going to observe the events surrounding his capture as well. Calling Johnny back with his mind, Uatu then uses his powers to spirit them all across space to Reed's location. An immeasurable distance later, the come to a massive fleet of alien vessels and teleport aboard one of them. There they are greeted by an alien delegation led by Xxan Xxar. He agrees to take them to their leader, and the rest of the Fantastic Four are shocked when they find Reed bound and stretched over some kind of torture device. When Sue asks what they are doing to her husband, Xxan explains that they are executing him for sparing the life of Galactus, and that all the aliens of this fleet are survivors of his previous hungers. Sue refuses to allow her husband to be killed and the rest of the Fantastic Four try to break him free. When they do, the Watcher steps in and traps them in bubbles of pure thought, telling them that Reed must be put to trial for his supposed crimes. Brought before a council of aliens from the various ships, Reed explains to them that he could not bring himself to kill Galactus on humanitarian grounds, regardless of what the powerful being has done in the past. The Watcher also chimes in to explain that Galactus also serves a greater purpose to the universe and thus must continue to exist. The alien council is almost convinced enough to let Reed be let free, but before they can make that decision they are interrupted by the arrival of Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar, who has come to see that Reed Richards is executed for his crime of allowing Galactus to live. Brodie's View:So, back in FF #257, Reed Richard was kidnapped by some unknown entity at the very end of the issue, and although they are not the actual ones that kidnapped him, a hint was actually given in UNCANNY X-MEN #167, as Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar Empire, upon finding out that Reed saved the life of Galactus (Not only did Reed save Galactus' life, but thanks to then FF member Frankie Raye deciding to join the planet devourer, basically unwittingly gave him a new herald as well), who was near death back in FF #244, threatened the leader of the FF that any life lost due to Galactus would be on his head. At the beginning of FF #257, and thanks to the before mentioned new Herald, Frankie Raye/Nova, Galactus decended on the Throneworld of the Skrulls and ate it, killing billions of Skrulls in the process. This brings us back around to Reed being kidnapped, as Sue and the rest of the Fantastic Four, upon finally finding out about Reed being taken, rocket off to the moon to try and find the Watcher, as Sue feels that he might know where Reed is. Backing up a bit, Reed going missing for these last few issues has really given Byrne the chance to try out Sue in a full fledged leadership role, which she most certainly has taken up. We start out the issue with Namor laying a kiss on her, before taking off with Marrina to Atlantis. She then checks on the Silver Surfer, who has recovered from his battle with Tyros in the last actual FF issue (#260), and it is he that is able to detect that Reed has been taken off world. Sue gathers the other three members of the FF, and heads off to the moon to talk to the Watcher, as he, out of anyone, would know the location of her husband. This allows for the Thing to think about the origins of the FF as they're heading for the moon, giving us a nice little recap of the origins of the team. Once the team get to the moon, they find the Watcher's home, and after searching fruitlessly for a bit, they find Uatu, who instantly transports them to where Reed is. It turns out that Reed had been kidnapped by a collection of aliens that had been left homeless by Galactus devouring their respective worlds, and they plan on executing Reed for his allowing Galactus to go on eating planets. The Thing winds up freeing Reed, but they are soon incapacitated by the aliens, who state the charges against Richards. However, Reed explains to them what we learned during the very beginning of FF #257, and what we will have fully explained out in the next issue; that Galactus is essentially a function of the universe, and his devouring planets is the universe's way of weeding out worlds that have outlived their usefulness, as far as the overall scheme of things in the universe is concerned. He actually has the alien refugees convinced, or at the very least makes them question their resolve, that is, until Empress Lilandra shows up at the very end of the issue to state that Reed Richards will be properly put on trial....and then executed! (Yikes! ) Needless to say, this sets up a VERY major issue for our next review, and this will be major on a bunch of different levels. I'll explain more as the events happen in the next issue, but I will say that the one major thing, as far as the team is concerned, as this will kind of be the last full on hurrah for the Classic Fantastic Four during the Byrne run. Things are going to change in a major way for the team when we hit the time of SECRET WARS, and the two actual FF issues leading up to that change are more just a straight up Thing/Human Torch team up storyline. In fact, since the events of #257, Byrne has been playing a lot with splitting the team up in different ways. It's almost like he's trying to soften the blow of a changed Fantastic Four before it actually happens. Anyways, in the next issue, we will see the Trial of Reed Richards, and it will be one of the most important issues in this entire run. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 9, 2020 23:31:22 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #262"The Trial of Reed Richards"Cover Date: Jan, 1984 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: None Special Guests: John Byrne, Uatu the Watcher, Shi'ar Empire (Lilandra Neramani & Gladiator), Skrull Empire (Karant Kiar), Survivors' Fleet (Xxan Xxar),Odin, Nova/Frankie Raye, Galactus, Eternity, Mike Higgins, Roberta, Andrea Braun Byrne, Sentience of the Universe, Ecce the Watcher (The Last Two are in Flashback Form Only) Official Plot:At the offices of Marvel Comics, editor Mike Higgins is pleading to get his writer/artist John Byrne to pump out another Fantastic Four comic before the printing deadline. Despite the desperate need, John informs Mike that he hasn't heard from the Fantastic Four in a while, but wants another 24 hours to try and get a hold of the group to learn of their current adventures before giving up and writing a made up story. John then calls the Baxter Building, but his call is answered by the FF's robotic receptionist Roberta, who informs John that the Fantastic Four are still away. As John hangs up the phone he is suddenly visited by the Watcher, who quickly teleports John away before his wife gets home. As they speed through the cosmos, the Watcher tells John that the coming events are of such cosmic significance that a chronicler will be needed to record the events later. Suddenly they appear in the middle of the Galactic Tribunal's trial for the live of Reed Richards. John is taken to Sue, Ben and Johnny who tell him that Reed is being put on trial for sparing the life of Galactus. Sue goes on to point out that the head of the trial is Empress Lilandra, the leader of the Shi'ar. She mentions how Lilandra appeared before them one night and warned Reed that he would be put to task if Galactus consumed another inhabited world after he spared the life of the eater of worlds. When Lilandra calls the trial to begin, the Thing wonders how a jury will be able to reach a decision. One of the aliens calls Ben's attention to the strange glowing globes above the court. The alien explains that they measure the spectators collective feelings about the trial and that should they all turn white, it is a sign that those gathered to watch have found Reed guilty. First to the stand is the Skrull survivor Karant Kair who explains how Galactus came to the homeworld of the Skrulls and consumed it, wiping out billions of his people as a result of Reed sparing the life of Galactus. Thinking to himself, Reed is consumed with guilt over the loss of life thanks to his decision, but still believes that allowing Galactus to die was not right. Lilandra then calls upon witness after witness to testify about the atrocities Galactus has committed on world upon world. As the trial drags on, the Watcher tells the Human Torch that he has a task he wishes the youth to under take, and Johnny agrees to do it and is promptly teleported away. When John and the rest of the Fantastic Four express their concern, the Watcher explains that he is gathering up a defense for Reed. With the witness testimony given, the Watcher tries to tell those gathered that Galactus serves a greater purpose in the universe. With that said, he has Reed Richards defend himself first. Reed shocks all gathered by saying that he is guilty of sparing the life of Galactus. When given a chance to clarify what he means, Reed says he is guilty of sparing the life of Galactus, the point of the trial is to determine if doing so was a crime. He goes on to explain his first encounter with Galactus and how he learned that the cosmic being was beyond good and evil and only consumed worlds to prolong his own existence. He goes on to explain that Galactus exists as a higher order in the greater good of the universe, carrying out some king of task beyond the ken of mere mortals. With Reed's testimony, Johnny returns with the first witness: Odin, the All-Father of Asgard. Odin is called to recount what he knows about the origins of Galactus. Odin recounts how Galactus was once merely a man named Galen who lived on the planet Taa, a world that existed in the universe prior to this one. When Taa was in the throws of a deadly plague, Galan and the last survivors of his world flew into the heart of Taa's nearby sun where they hoped to die in a blaze of glory. However the universe collapsed... When the Big Bang occurred and the new universe was created, a lone ship also emerged from the beginning. Some time later it was discovered by one of the Watchers who witnessed as Galan emerged from the vessel transformed into Galactus. Odin goes on to explain that the purpose of Galactus is to test the lives of inhabited worlds to see if they are worthy to continue existing in the universe. Although the Fantastic Four and John Byrne are glad to hear this testimony, they are disappointed when they see that it has not swayed the audience and they are quickly coming to find Reed guilty. Before more of the globes can turn white, they are blasted out of the sky by Nova, the herald announcing the arrival of Galactus. As Galactus towers over everyone, Xxan Xxar tries to make an attempt to kill Galactus himself. However he quickly loses his nerve and cowardly slinks away. Galactus has come to speak on the behalf of Reed Richards, a man he has come to consider a friend and is indebted to for saving his life. Galactus explains that he is part of a grander scheme in the universe. In order to prove this point, Galactus and Uatu channel their powers together to summon Eternity, the embodiment of all existence. Eternity reiterates what everyone has said and then reveals the very secrets of Galactus to all gathered. The truth, the details of which becomes fleeting and quickly forgotten, convince all gathered that Reed is innocence of any wrong doing and he and the Fantastic Four are allowed to go free. Three hours later, John Byrne finds himself back at his home explaining everything to Mike who finds the story too far out but tells John to get it done as quickly as possible. The Watcher still in his presence, John asks what will happen to Galactus now. Uatu surmises that the world devourer will continue testing worlds until one develops enough power to destroy him. On that day, the Watcher explains, the universe will weep. Brodie's View:Holy Moley. In addition to being one of the best issues of this run, this is most certainly one of the most important issues of it. We basically get the main purpose of Galactus explained fully, as well as his full origin told. However, before we get to all that, we get the trial of Reed Richards, who stands accused of knowingly allowing a catastrophic threat like Galactus to resume his planet devouring ways, rather than just killing him/letting him die when he was near death back in FF #244. Galactus ended up eating the Skrull Throneworld in #257, which is what set this trial up to begin with, as Reed was already in hot water with a nice chunk of the galaxy for letting Galactus go. In fact, this trial is so important that the Watcher goes and snatches us John Byrne, who in the 616 universe is seen as the Chronicler of the FF's story, as it had been pre-established that Marvel comics had a deal worked out with the FF to tell their stories in comic book form. The Watcher, in a comic book kayfabe sense, wanted Byrne there to make sure that the cosmic truths told during the trial would be correctly told. Yes, it was REALLY meta for Byrne to make himself an actual character during this story, but this is before creators did shit like this all the time, and way before it got super cutesy and annoying like it is, for the most part, in today's comics. Moving on to the trial itself, Lilandra, who ordered this trial at the very end of the last issue, acts as the judge for the trial, although, the jury is represented by the inner thoughts of all in attendance, which is reflected in small globes that must all turn white for Reed to be considered Not Guilty of his crime. For the first half of the trial, it seems as if Reed clearing his name would be an impossibility, as one by one, survivors from the worlds devoured by Galactus step forward to tell their tales, making the leader of the Fantastic Four look worse and worse with each word uttered. However, the Watcher, who is acting as the Defense in the trial, has some tricks up his sleeve, as he sends the Human Torch to find Odin in Asgard. Once Odin arrives, he tells the origin story for Galactus, who started out, himself, as the survivor of a dead world, who was lost to the universe, and through it, transformed into the being known as Galactus. Odin and Uatu try to explain that while Galactus' task isn't a very pretty one, it is an important one to weed out worlds that have outlasted their usefullness to the grand scheme of the universe, in order for other worlds to survive and thrive. However, this still isn't enough to convince all of the jury, so, Galactus (with Nova) shows up to testify for himself (and for Reed, who he considers a friend). There's a great moment where one of the alien survivors secretly tries to get revenge on Galactus, only to chicken out, as he realizes that his grand plan for killing the planet devourer might backfire and piss Galactus off more than anything else. He ends up not even attempting the revenge, and flies away, unnoticed by Galactus entirely. Another cool moment is what happens when Galactus does show up, and we get it explained to us that every being sees Galactus in their own particular way. In other words, Galactus only looks the way he does to us because that's how we, as humans, interpret Galactus to look. Anyways, despite Galactus' good intentions, his presence there does more harm to the cause of Reed Richards than help, so, Galactus and Utau use their powers in conjunction to summon the living embodiment of the universe itself, Eternity. Eternity ends up telling the Cosmic Truth to everyone there by linking them all as one mind, and once he confirms what Uatu, Reed, Odin, and Galactus himself have tried to say, it pretty much ends the trial, as the justness of Reed actions can no longer be questioned. This is further explained to Byrne by Uatu at the end of the issue, who states that the day Galactus does actually die, the universe will mourn his death, as his role to the universe is as essential as the roles played by any other cosmic entity. Wow! I mean, what more can be said about this issue. It's another masterpiece by Byrne, who has dropped a few so far in this run, and he's not done yet. I will say that the next two issues' stories will not be on that level, but they'll be a fun little side trip involving one last Thing/Torch team up before the FF head off to SECRET WARS.....and everything (no pun intended) changes. GRADE: A+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 11, 2020 23:57:08 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #263"R and R"Cover Date: Feb, 1984 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Alden Mass (1st Appearance of) Special Guests: Franklin Richards, Julie Angel, The Vision, & The Mole Man Official Plot:Reed and Sue Richards have just moved into their new home in Belle Prirte, Connecticut where they hope to provide Franklin with a stable family home, disguised as the Benjamin family in order to maintain their privacy. This morning Sue is trying to paint the kitchen when Reed walks in on his way out to work. He is concerned that she is doing such work now that she is visibly pregnant, but she shows him that she has it under control when a paint bucket spills over and she manages to catch the falling paint in an invisible force field. Convinced that everything is fine, Reed refreshes young Franklin on why they need to keep their identities secret before using his stretching powers to alter the appearance of his face before heading out to work. "Reed Benjamin" then takes the city bus to a storage warehouse where he keeps the Fantasti-Car stored. He then flies it to the Baxter Building in Manhattan where he changes into his alter-ego of Mister Fantastic. When he arrives he decides to check in on the android Avenger known as the Vision to see how his recovery is going. Reed is happy to hear that while the Vision's body is still inactive, his mind is alive and well and controlling the mansions computer systems. After the briefing, the Vision cuts their conversation short to attend to other business. Reed finds the Vision's behavior somewhat odd, but his attention is taken away from this concern when the building's scanners begin to detect something. Meanwhile at the Wonderworld Amusement Park in California, Johnny has been invited to participate in a special racecar competition where the drivers have to keep their identities a secret to the general public. Joining him is the Thing, and the two soon discover that their long time friend Julie Angel is in California as well. Julie explains to Johnny that she came here along with Grey Landers who had an acting job lined up. When this failed to pan out, Julie decided to stay where she became a magazine model, which landed her the gig as a bikini model for the racing gig. With the race about to begin, Julie kisses Johnny to wish him luck, much to Johnny's dismay as he had just gotten over his interest in Julie Angel. When the race begins, Johnny's Formula-1 racer manages to get ahead of the pack and zips into a tunnel on the race track. When the car emerges on the other side one of the tires suddenly bursts causing the car to crash in a fiery explosion. Ben rushes to the wreckage to did Johnny out but is shocked when he finds that the body within the wreck is burned beyond recognition. Later as paramedics are treating the Thing's hands for burns and collect that apparent corpse of Johnny, Ben finds it hard to believe considering the fact that the Human Torch is immune to fire, and recalls how Johnny has previously melted through fighter planes without any harm caused. But the crew is adamant about the end result: Johnny Storm is dead. When Julie expresses her condolences to Ben, the Thing tells her that he finds the entire accident highly suspect and asks more about who runs Wonderworld. She tells Ben that it is owned and operated by a man named Alden Maas, a recluse who has hidden himself from the public eye for over fifteen years. Ben decides that its time that Maas takes company. Soon, Ben is flying his own Fantasti-Car to the massive star shaped island off the California coast that is home to Alden Maas. When he arrives he is greeted by three suited men who inform him that Aladen is waiting for him and granted the Thing an audience. When Ben is in a waiting room he is suddenly greeted by a hologram of a young woman who begins telling him about something called Project: Worldcore. The Project, the hologram girl explains, is based on Alden Maas' opinion that the Earth has gone through a continental shift not because of the established science, but because of something even more fantastic: the Earth is actually expanding from within. She goes on to explain that it is believed that this expansion will cause the Earth to begin to cool and contract and ultimately entire continents will be forced together. The purpose of Project: Worldcore is to reignite the Earth's core so that the planet can continue to expand to suit the needs of an ever growing population. The hologram then shows Ben the source of this heat: Johnny who is strapped to a machine that painfully forces him to flame on at full power, shooting his flames deep into the core of the Earth. Before Ben can smash through the screen, he is interrupted by Alden Maas, who tells Ben that Johnny is needed to save the Earth. When the Thing contents that this constant force of Johnny's powers could eventually kill him, Maas does not seem to care, more concerned with preventing his perceived catastrophe so that he can be seen as a messiah who saved the human race. Unwilling to let Maas get away with his mad scheme, the Thing smashes through what he thinks is glass separating him from Johnny, but it turns out to be nothing more than a television screen. On the other side is a deep tunnel, which Ben then plummets deep into. Landing deep under the Earth, the Thing tries to recover from his fall when he is suddenly struck with a stunning blow issued by the Fantastic Four's oldest foe: The Mole Man. Believing that the Thing is responsible for the danger to his underworld domain, the Mole Man vows to destroy the Thing and his allies. Brodie's View:We move several months ahead from the events of last issue to find Reed, (a now VERY pregnant) Sue, and Franklin Richards trying to live a normal life in suburbia, even to the point of disguising themselves to fool the families around them into thinking they're a perfectly normal family. We see Reed secretly fly to the Baxter Building in order to follow up on his investigation of a strange energy beam which has been popping up here and there over the last few months. It's the same energy beam that had been blasting Charles Xaiver and Spider-Man, setting off their respective danger sensors, and it's the same energy beam that the Avengers and Bruce Banner had detected, and had tried to find the source of. Pretty soon all of those people will get their answer, as it turns out that this energy beam belongs to the being known only as The Beyonder, who is doing some investigations for the beings he plans on kidnapping for his SECRET WARS, which we'll be dealing with the fallout from not too far from now. However, for now, let's jump to LA, as Ben and Johnny are at a race track to watch the Torch race in a special competition that all the participants need to keep their identities secret for. Of course, there's something sinister behind that particular little rule, but before we get to that, I'll mention that Johnny, before the race, ends up running into Julie Angel, who has become a spokesmodel for the race. I mention this only because this is Julie's last appearance in this run, and her next to last appearance in a Marvel comic period. Anyways, Johnny ends up racing, and then apparently dying in a massive wreck, although, the Thing isn't convinced. He decides to investigate the man sponsoring this race, the Walt Disney like Alden Mass, who lives on a mostly deserted island. Ben travels to this island, and is met by robots and holograms, who take him to Mass, or who appears to be, as it will be revealed that Ben is still talking to a hologram. It's revealed that Mass had Johnny kidnapped because he wants to use Johnny's Nova Blast to heat up the Earth's core, which, Mass theorizes will cause the Earth to expand, creating more land for the growing population of the planet. Ben, of course, realizes that Mass' plan is insane, and tries to save Johnny, but is tricked once again by a hologram, and ends up falling deep into the Earth. There, he ends up running into the FF's first enemy, and a man convinced that the FF are responsible for what Mass has been doing in his domain, the Mole Man(!!!). This will set up the next part of this brief little Thing/Torch team up, as Ben must convince the Mole Man to team up with him to try and stop Mass and save his "little brother," Johnny Storm. This was a decent issue, and a nice little cool down story after the events of the last few issues. It's also, as I mentioned earlier, the calm before the storm called SECRET WARS that will impact the entire Marvel Universe, and bring on the changes Jim Shooter wanted for these characters and the world they inhabit. However, we'll deal with all of that when it comes. For now, we'll move on to the next issue, where we'll get to see the Mole Man and the Thing team up for the first, but not last time. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 13, 2020 0:24:28 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #264"Inferno"Cover Date: March, 1984 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Alden Mass (Dies) Special Guests: Franklin Richards, Giganto, Kate Dwyer, The Outcasts (In Recap form Only), & The Mole Man Official Plot:Captured by the Mole Man, the Thing is blamed for the sudden blasts of heat that have been endangering the people of Subeterranea. As the Mole Man has his Moloids carry the Thing to a massive lava flow and his impending demise, the Fantastic Four's oldest foe explains what is going on in his realm. He reminds the Thing how he and the Fantastic Four last parted as allies after establishing his utopian society with his Outcasts, [1] but explains that recent a strange device from the surface appeared outside his domain and flooded the chamber with lava, apparently killing all the Outcasts in the process. The Thing explains that he is also trying to stop the schemes of one Alden Maas, a wealthy entertainment magnate who believes in the wild theory that if he super-heats the core of the Earth, he will cause the Earth to expand and grow in size and has kidnapped the Human Torch in order to achieve this goal. The Mole Man explains that such an idea is mad and that all Maas will achieve is causing the Earth's crust to split open, eradicating all life on the planet in the process. With both his domain and the surface world in danger, the Mole Man agrees to help the Thing to stop Alden Maas before it is too late. Meanwhile, in New York City, Mister Fantastic departs from the Baxter Building in order to investigate a strange energy reading that the scanners in his lab has picked up. Taking the Fantasti-Car, Reed flies out to Sheep's Meadow in Central Park. Although his scanners have brought him to the source of the strange energy reading, Reed can find no trace of it, but fears that should it resurface again it could threaten the entire world. At that very moment at the home that Reed and Sue share in Belle Porte, Connecticut under the guise of "Reed and Sue Benjamin", Franklin's babysitter Katie Dwyer returns with the boy after an outing. Their arrival coincides with Sue suddenly being racked with pain caused by her pregnancy. Recalling that nearly fatal trouble that she had while she was pregnant with Franklin, Sue hopes that this problem does not arise again. Needing to get Reed to check on her, Sue is suddenly surprised when the pain suddenly subsides. Putting on her "Sue Benjamin" wig, Sue then goes downstairs to greet Katie and see her son Franklin. Back in California at the site of Project: Worldcore, Johnny Storm awakens from the last forced burst of flame that Alden Maas has forced him to carry on. After recollecting his situation, Johnny is visited by the female assistant of Alden Maas who is about to force Johnny to activate his powers again. Before she can throw the potentially fatal switch, Moloids suddenly rip through the floor and pull her underground. Out from the hole emerges the Mole Man and the Thing. After the Moloids pull Johnny from the machine that has been leaching his powers, he explains that Maas used a trap door to secretly kidnap Johnny during the race, and sending off a dummy car to crash in order to lead people to believe that he had died. With everyone on the same page, the Mole Man orders his Moloids to press forward on the attack to destroy Project: Worldcore. The group soon has to fight gun toting robots based on the various characters created by Alden Maas. Watching the developments from a control room as Alden and his assistants. Unwilling to allow himself to fail in his mission, Alden tells his men to prepare the thermonuclear device that he had prepared just in case. Meanwhile, Johnny, Ben and the Mole Man fight their way to a massive door that is too thick for either Ben or Johnny to break through. The Mole Man has a solution, and summons his massive creature Giganto to smash through the wall. As Giganto begins to rip through the thick barricade keeping them out, Alden prepares to throw the switch that will set off the nuke that he hopes will generate the heat needed to support his theory. When Ben, Johnny and the Mole Man arrive, they arrive to find that Alden Maas is dead. One of his assistants explains that Alden suffered from a degenerative disease that affected his nervous system and spent repeated times in suspended animation. Revealing that they are robots, the aid explains that they were programed to follow the orders of Alden Maas and keep him happy. With their master dead, the robots then begin walking into the ocean to terminate their functions. With the danger over, Johnny and Ben thank the Mole Man for his help. Upset at his losses, the Mole Man warns the two members of the Fantastic Four that when next they meet it will not be as friends. After the Mole Man departs, Johnny and Ben leave in the Fantasti-Car headed for home. Brodie's View:Although we have one more review to tackle before the SECRET WARS officially begins, this issue is kind of the end of an era, at least where it concerns the Fantastic Four during the John Byrne run. Byrne seems to understand that, so, both the cover and the story kind of gives one final nod to the past, as major players in this story are the first threats the FF fought as a team, and that is the Mole Man, his Moleoids, and his giant monster, Giganto, who the team fought both on that classic first issue and this one, although, we see the change on this new cover, as Giganto is there to actually help the Human Torch and the Thing, rather than the opposite. That's kind of where we pick up at the beginning of this issue, although, there's quite a bit that needs to be explained by the Thing (which is where we get a shortened recap of the events of last issue) before the Mole Man flattens him with a giant rock. See, when last the team had encountered the Mole Man, things had ended on an optimistic note, as the Mole Man decided to make his lair the safe haven for blind and disfigured people, who he called the Outcasts. However, Alden Mass' drilling into the Earth's core wound up flooding the Mole Man's lair with lava, killing most of the Outcasts, and once again turning the Mole Man against humanity. Ben is able to convince the Mole Man of the role Mass played in destroying his paradise, and the two end up invading Mass' island, freeing the captured Human Torch. However, the group are attacked by robots that resemble the cartoon characters Mass (who is very obviously based off of Walt Disney) had created, but with the addition of the Mole Man's Moleoids, the "good guys" are able to turn the tables and stop Mass' plan. It is then revealed that the real Aldin Mass had died years ago, and had been kept artificially alive by his robot servants long enough for his plan to expand the Earth to be completed (or at least attempted, as the robots admit to Ben and the others that they knew it would never work). With Mass' plan thwarted, the robots carry his long dead body out to the sea, while the Mole Man parts with them, swearing that they will meet as enemies the next time they meet. He's half right about that. There are some other minor things to note from this issue. For one, we see that Sue Richards pregnancy isn't going as smoothly as she hoped, as she's being hit with major pains at times, that are not your normal run of the mill contractions. We'll see this get worse in the next issue, but we get a bit of foreshadowing in this one. Speaking of foreshadowing, we also get Reed traveling to Central Park to investigate bursts of unknown cosmic energy which have centralized there. As I stated in the last review, these energy bursts are the work of The Beyonder, who is preparing to make his major play; a major play that will indeed change the Marvel Universe forever, as there will be truly no going back to the era of "Classic Marvel" that existed before the original SECRET WARS happened. Our next review will take us once more to the Thing's solo book, as we will get one last Good Bye to that era in many ways. When we come back to the actual FANTASTIC FOUR series, things will be VERY different, and I'm not just talking about the team's line up. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 14, 2020 1:20:31 GMT -5
The Thing #10"Marking Time"Cover Date: April, 1984 Writer: John Byrne Artist: Ron Wilson Feature Characters: The Thing Villain/s: The Beyonder (Behind the Scenes) Special Guests: Mr. Fantastic, The Human Torch, The Invisible Girl, Alicia Masters, & Sergius O'Hoolihan Official Plot:Alicia Masters has finally been released from Mercy General Hospital. Ben and she take a long walk through Central Park. Some children come along and they want to see the Thing do something extraordinary, so he grabs a nearby statue and crushes it into a ball. The two then return to the Baxter Building where they have a heart-to-heart discussion. Ben has been re-evaluating their relationship lately, and it appears as if he is on the verge of breaking up with her because, although he loves her, he feels that he can't give her the life she deserves. Ben falls into a reverie and there is an origin flashback to the Fantastic Four's crash-landing after their first fateful space flight. This sequence concentrates on Ben's initial reaction to becoming the Thing and his realization that even his friends consider him to be a monster (although this may rather be his perception than how the other members of the FF actually felt). Suddenly, Reed Richards bursts into the room and tells Ben that they must investigate strange energy readings he’s picking up from Central Park. The Thing, the Human Torch and Mister Fantastic leave the pregnant Sue Richards behind and take the Fantasti-Car to Central Park. Arriving in Sheep's Meadow, they find a large metallic arena nestled in the middle of the park. They enter the arena portico when suddenly a beam of yellow light surrounds them and they disappear. Brodie's View:A better title for this issue, although, I get the point Byrne was trying to make with it, would be"One Last Goodbye," as this issue, which on the surface doesn't really have a lot going on until the very end of the story, actually seems to be one last goodbye to the Classic Marvel Universe that started in the early 1960's. I say that because from here on, throughout the Marvel Universe, things are going to be very different. Byrne, as a writer, definitely seems to get that, as he makes several cryptic remarks throughout the issue, both as narrator and through certain characters, stating that everything is on the verge of a major change, or in the case of certain characters, a certain trauma. Perhaps on a subconscious level, Ben Grimm knows this as well, as much of this issue is built around his breaking things off with his long time (and long suffering) girlfriend, Alicia Masters. We get a whole lot of Ben feeling sorry for himself, and in general being a grumpasauris throughout the issue, which when he breaks up with Alicia, we realize that he was building himself up to do that. Whether Alicia is shattered by this or not, we'll not see until MUUUUUUCH later....like in the 1990's, and way beyond the run we're talking about here. I will say that part of this will concern what happens to Ben during the events of SECRET WARS, but part of it will concern what happens to Alicia during that period as well. I'll get back to that several reviews down the line. Suffer, Fools!!! Eventually, though, it's time for Ben to leave with Reed and Johnny, as the strange alien energy that Reed (among others) has been investigating over the last few issues worth of continuity has just spiked in a major way in Central Park. The three FFer's go to investigate, only to find a giant seatless arena looking structure, which they enter. They realize that the construct is some sort of trap as soon as they enter, and yet, they are snared by the trap anyways. They won't be alone in this. Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Hulk, and The Avengers will all follow the same path, and all of them, along with a crap ton of villains...and Magneto, will be transported off to a pocket universe where they will battle each other for the benefit of The Beyonder, who will play a pretty decent sized part in the future of this run, beyond the events of the first SECRET WARS. Before we get to all that, though, I will say that this was a decent issue, that while not being as great as the stuff on the main FF book, does at least form a little collection bowl for a lot of the Thing's more hard core self pitying moments, sparing us a lot of that in the more important book. I loves me some Ben Grimm, but the whole "I'm a Monster" thing had gotten pretty old by that point, and the character needed a big change. He's going to get one. The whole Marvel Universe is going to get one, whether they know it or not. In the next review, we enter the second half of Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR run, and I can say that the future of the team will be very, very....Green. Double GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Sept 18, 2020 1:09:48 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #265"The House That Reed Built/Home Are the Heroes"Cover Date: April, 1984 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Baxter Building/The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch, & She Hulk) Villain/s: The Trapster/The Beyonder (Behind the Scenes) Special Guests: HUBERT, Roberta, & the NYPD (Sergeant Quinlan)/Edwin Jarvis, Alicia Masters, "Alicia Masters"/Lyja (1st Appearance of), Franklin Richards, The Avengers (Iron Man II, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, Mockingbird, & Starfox---In Flashback Form Only), & The Thing (In Flashback Form Only) Official Plot:(Story 1) Trying to prove himself as a solo villain again, the Trapster attempts to break in the Baxter Building. Floating down to the roof of the world-famous headquarters of the Fantastic Four by parachute, the Trapster's devices indicate that the scanners within the building have not detected his presence. When he lands, the security cameras begin to rise out of the floor, but he quickly blinds them with his paste gun. Using a device to hack into the roof hatch mechanisms, the Trapster breaches the entrance and enters the building. He appears in the hanger room and as he begins scoping out the area, he is unaware that the computers within the Baxter Building have scanned him and determined his identity. The computers mark him as a threat, and begin tracking him as he makes his way through the Baxter Building. The Trapster then tries to access the elevators in the building but find that the will no operate. Unlocking the door to the stairs, the villain continues his descent into the heart of the Baxter Building. Becoming edgy from the constant silence, the Trapster almost shoots at his reflection when he catches it in a window, but continues his progress. As he continues his progress, the Baxter Building's computer systems continue to scan, detecting his paste gun as a weapon and initiating protocols to jam the weapon to prevent it from being used. When he reaches the door to Reed's lab, the Trapster is jolted with electricity when he tries to open it. Deciding to try and use his paste gun, he is shocked to find that it is no longer working. Making a run for it, the Trapster enters the residential area of the Fantastic Four's headquarters. There he is confronted by the robot HUBERT who tells him that he is trespassing. Trying to make a break for it, the Trapster then slips on one of Franklin's toy cars. In a blind panic, the Trapster makes it to an elevator that actually works. It takes him down to the reception area of the Fantastic Four's headquarters where he is greeted by Roberta. Unaware that she is really a robot, the Trapster tries to grab her. but she easily throws him to the floor. As the Trapster begins to blackout from his impact with the floor, Roberta puts a call into the authorities to pick him up. (Story 2) At Avengers Mansion, the incredibly pregnant Sue Richards is checking on a meal being prepared by Edwin Jarvis, the Avengers butler, much to the horror of the Jarvis himself. Jarvis tells Sue to please not tamper with his cooking as the dish he is preparing is incredibly delicate. Sue leaves the kitchen and reflects on how tense things are. Thinking back to sometime earlier when she saw Reed, Johnny and Ben go off to investigate a strange energy reading in Central Park, when suddenly they vanished in a strange flash of light that was also seen by Alicia Masters, even though she is blind. Realizing that Alicia is scared, especially after getting out of the hospital following her attack by Annihilus, the two take the spare Fantasi-Car to investigate the situation. When they arrive in Central Park, Sue spots a massive construct that suddenly vanishes upon their arrival. Landing the Fantasti-Car, Sue spots the Vision, Mockingbird, Starfox, and the Scarlet Witch of the Avengers who had also come to investigate the situation. Based on the Vision's scans he has come to the conclusion that some force has kidnapped the other members of the Fantastic Four and members of the Avengers and taken them to somewhere off the planet. With her recollection over, Sue is greeted by Alicia who has just arrived with Franklin. Sue agrees to take Franklin out for a treat. On their way out they bump into Mockingbird who expresses her growing concern over the disappearance of her husband and the others. Later, after Sue and Alicia get Franklin some ice cream they are walking in Central Park when Sue notices a bright glow from behind some trees. Turning invisible, she rushes out to see what is going on. As she reaches the clearing she spots Iron Man flying away from the area. Suddenly there is another flash of energy revealing Reed, Johnny and the She-Hulk. Much to Sue's surprise, She-Hulk is wearing a Fantastic Four uniform. Sue, Franklin and Alicia are then happily reunited with Johnny and Reed. When Alicia asks where Ben is, Johnny is about to tell her when Sue suddenly shrieks in pain as her body begins to painfully discharge energy. Reed rushes to the aid of his wife who tells him that the sudden pain was caused by the baby. With no time to lose, Reed orders She-Hulk to carry Sue, while Johnny is sent ahead to Mercy General Hospital to warn them of their impending arrival. Brodie's View:So, before I get into the two stories we get for this issue, I first off want to mention a few things. First, although, I'm not sure what the exact half way point would be, issue wise, this very much is the beginning of the second half of Byrne's FF run, story-wise, as the team will take on somewhat of a new dynamic due to the change in roster (which I'll get to in my second explanation). Second, this issue covers the events that took place after the disappearance of Reed, Johnny, Ben, and a crap ton of other heroes, and their return...well, most of them. In continuity, these heroes were gone a few weeks, both in their and "our" time, but rather than letting these characters be gone the year it would take for the SECERET WARS limited series to play out, we basically jump ahead in actual continuity (although, as I said, we do get a bit in this issue concerning the heroes/characters left behind, and how freaked (or not freaked) they are by what has happened to a nice chunk of Earth's heroes) to their return, and what actually happens to them on Battleworld is restricted almost entirely to the SECRET WARS series. I will say that if you have never read the original SECRET WARS, and were curious as to what happened to a majority of the FF, Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, and The Hulk, I did actually review SECRET WARS during the break in my UNCANNY X-MEN run, so, if you go back quite a bit in my reviews, you'll find it. I will say that where it concerns the Fantastic Four, on Battleworld, Ben discovered that he somehow had gained the ability to change back and forth from Ben Grimm to the Thing at will, and decides to stay on Battleworld for a while, after the events of SECRET WARS. She Hulk decides to take his place, leaving the Avengers for a time (although, she would return pretty much as soon as Ben returned to his team), and remaining on the FF for the remaining issues in this run. Ben will be popping up here and there, but as far as being a regular FF member, he's done, at least for the remains of the Byrne run. I will say that I'm a huge fan of She Hulk as well, and as I said earlier, her joining the team definitely changed the dynamic of Marvel's First Family. That all being said, this issue is broken up into two short stories. The first, which is an awesome bit of comedy, displays the former Paste Pot Pete (AKA, The Trapster) trying to break into the Baxter Building in similar fashion that he did in #218, when he was disguised as Spider-Man, and suckered the FF into an ambush by his teammates at the time, The Frightful Four. This time, however, he's solo, but arrogantly thinks that his breaking into the Baxter Building will be a cinch, especially with the FF gone at the time. However, he completely underestimates the various improvements Reed had made to the Baxter Building's security systems since that issue, and while he's patting himself on the back for how easy it was to break into the FF's headquarters, he's secretly setting off the various security functions, which end up taking him down in hilarious fashion. Poor Paste Pot Pete.....he'll never get that respect he wanted so badly...lol. The second story, which is probably what most readers were interested in at the time, depicts Susan Richard's (and various other character's) reaction/s to the heroes vanishing at the end of THE THING #10 (and various other issues). We see Susan and Alicia Masters actually see the burst of light that takes the heroes away, and once they go to investigate, they are met by the members of the Avengers that didn't end up going into The Beyonder's little trap. However, they are just as clueless as Sue and Alicia, and Sue actually has to be the voice of reassurance to Mockingbird, who is new to the hero game, and is justifiably freaked that her new husband (Hawkeye) had vanished to parts unknown, unsure if he (and the others) would ever return. We then jump a few weeks later, as Sue, Franklin, and Alicia are out and about, and witness another burst of light in the same area (however, Alicia doesn't see the light this time....this is because she secretly has been replaced by a Skrull named Lyja, although, we won't know that until MUCH later....it seemed like a bad retcon to try and explain some of the actions Alicia takes in this Post SECRET WARS continuity, but then again, rereading this and having Alicia not see the light this time, it does make me wonder if perhaps this was Byrne's intent as well, and he just never got to do the BIG REVEAL). They investigate, and find that a nice chunk of the heroes had returned (although, and we'll see this a few times over the next few issues, there was definitely a lack of communication between the writers on the various books affected by SECRET WARS, as Sue states that she sees characters that either came out separately (The Hulk) or didn't come back to New York at all (The X-Men, who ended up returning in Japan). The FF finally return, but instead of Aunt Petunia's Favorite Nephew, we instead get the Sensational She Hulk coming back with Reed and Johnny. The shock from all of this ends up sending her into a premature labor, and one that seems like it could lead to a Deadly delivery (which we have had hints of over the last couple of issues). In the next issue, we will see Sue being rushed into emergency surgery, and we will get a flashback story to kind of push this story out for a few issues....and then we get another GREAT issue. GRADE: A (Averaging both stories)
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