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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. J. Michael Straczynski continues his run on the series with an issue full of family drama and science intrigue.

Recap: Still struggling with financial and political woes, Reed takes a job with the government. He’s gone to a top-secret military base in Nevada, where scientists want to recreate the FF’s original spaceflight into cosmic rays, giving fantastic powers to a whole crew of astronauts. Also, Ben learned his one-fourth of Fantastic Four Inc.’s fortune is intact from before the team’s troubles, making him incredibly wealthy.

Reed calls Sue from Nevada, filling her (and the reader) in on what’s happening. An AI system censors any confidential information, so Sue’s side of the phone call has chunks of Reed’s dialogue replaced with white noise. Sue says that Simone Debouvier of New York Child Welfare office has an appointment with her, and Sue assumes this is about some charity fundraiser. Reed says “I love you” to Sue as they hang up, and the AI censors the word love. Sue finds this strange. Meanwhile, Ben enjoys his newfound riches by going shopping for tuxedos, with Johnny tagging along.

In Nevada, Reed again meets with Dr. Crane, who introduces fellow scientist Dr. Debra Love. She says they’ve had to make intuitive leaps in recreating Reed’s original spacecraft down to the smallest detail. In caption narration, Reed remarks on how this is like stepping into his past, and how one fateful choice of his changed his and so many other lives forever. He adds that this is making him feel old.

Sue meets with Debouvier, who is not there to organize a fundraiser. She’s opening an investigation into whether Franklin and Valeria are in a safe environment, or if they should be relocated. She argues that FF headquarters has been attacked and damaged on regular occasions, that “persons of dubious character” have been seen coming and going from the building, and that the kids are often left along for prolonged periods of time. Debouvier asks about the children’s babysitters. Rather than say the Inhumans watch the kids, Sue lies and says, “They’re from New Jersey.”  

Debouvier then talks to Franklin, who admits he doesn’t go to school but is taught by his parents. She asks about outside friends and places he’s been. Franklin retells the Latveria incident from his point of view, including him being stuck in Hell for a while. Sue tries to brush this off as “Kids, they say the darndest things.” Debouvier asks Franklin where his father is, and he says, “Nobody knows.”

Reed and Dr. Love have a chat. She says the one variable she and her team can’t figure out is why the cosmic rays affected the FF in four wildly different rays, when the outcome of radiation should be uniform. Reed admits that this question is an x-factor, something he himself has never been able to deduce over the years. Dr. Love says this variable is something they will have to compensate for before the new ship launches.

In New York, Ben treats Johnny to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Ben has bought a huge diamond necklace for himself, and women are attracted to him upon seeing the size of the diamond. Alone in the men’s room, he daydreams a conversation with his human self, saying that if it wasn’t for the diamond those women would have run away. Human Ben argues that there should be nothing wrong with feeling attractive, even if just for a little while.

Back at the Baxter Building, Sue tells Debouvier that the FF don’t wear masks and don’t hide their headquarters. She says it’s important for them to set a good example, demonstrating that a family can overcome any difficult circumstances. Debouvier says she will continue the investigation and follow it wherever it goes. Ben and Johnny return, and Sue tells her that the FF have a new enemy – bureaucracy.

In Nevada, Reed reminisces about how the FF’s powers reflect their personalities. Sue was ignored by her parents as a child, Johnny is a short-tempered hothead, and macho Ben lived life with a rough exterior. Then Reed considers himself, always stretched thin in his various scientific projects and among his family. He fears someday he might be stretched to the point where he’ll snap. Reed again meets with Dr. Love, contemplating the Voyager probe, which contained messages for possible aliens. He describes it as a signal, and an attempt to communicate.

Then an alarm goes off, as the ship’s fuel core is about to explode. Dr. Love helps with the evacuation, while Reed tries to dampen the core. He stretches his whole body over it just before it blows. Later, Dr. Love and Dr. Crane discuss whether they can keep to the launch schedule. Love says that the fuel core wasn’t supposed to go online yet, and would not have exploded on its own. She believes that someone deliberately sabotaged the ship, and it’s possible that person is Reed.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed’s arm is in a sling following the explosion. Remember that he can be hurt and break a bone in extreme circumstances.

Fade out: When Reed is considering Sue’s powers, we get a one-panel flashback of her childhood, including another rare glimpse or her and Johnny’s mother, Mary Storm. The Marvel Wiki alleges that Mary only appears on-panel three times, with this being the third and final one. (The others are issues 32 and 510.)

Clobberin’ time: In his daydream, Ben remarks that he’s still in love with Alicia. This is something of a big deal, because they separated way back in issue #265. Although Alicia is still one of the family, both she and Ben have had other potential love interests since then.

Flame on: Johnny is comic relief in this issue, poking fun during Ben’s shopping spree. He later takes a sec to ask Ben “You okay?” showing that he can see Ben is troubled.

Four and a half: We were previously told that Franklin had overcome the trauma of being in Hell, but this issue shows that experience is still with him.

Trivia time: Debouvier says that the FF’s home has been attacked seventeen times. I’m not sure that math adds up for the new Baxter Building, and it certainly doesn’t add up when taking the original Baxter Building and Four Freedoms Plaza into account.

Fantastic or frightful? JMS packs tons of story and world-building into this issue, juggling three storylines, and introducing a lot of ambitious ideas. This story arc is sometimes controversial among fans for the directions it goes, but for now there’s enough going to make you want to know what’ll happen next.

Next: At the movies.

* * * *

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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. I had just settled down, ready to explore an era (era) of Fantastic Four I’d never read, from Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett. But after only two issues with them, we’ve left-turned right into J. Michael Straczynski’s famous run on the series, starting with issue #527.

Straczynski, known as “JMS” to fans, is a fascinating guy. He’s most famous for Babylon 5, an ambitious five-year long “novel for television” he had plotted from day one. After cast changes, budget slashes, and constant battles with producers, he did the impossible and crossed the finish line at year five (plus a few spinoffs). Then there’s his career in comics. He made a big splash with his creator-owned series Rising Stars, and then wrote Thor and Amazing Spider-Man before taking over Fantastic Four.

There’s far less biographical info out there about penciler Mike McKone. He’s most well-known for Marvel’s Exiles, and he’s also drawn Punisher War Zone for Marvel, and Justice League and Teen Titans for DC.

The issue begins on an alien world, where an unseen narrator has been studying the place for five years and “the end is always the same.” Time passes faster on the planet than it does for the narrator, so that we see the rise of civilization over a short time. The society becomes advanced in arts and culture, but also warfare. It comes to an end with falling missiles and mushroom clouds. The lone survivor of this apocalypse simply asks “Why?” As he dies.

Turn the page, and Reed is our narrator, watching all this play out on a tiny planet inside his lab. Sue interrupts to tell him they’re having dinner with their new accountant, Mr. Onoffon. Reed has no interest in this. He’s feeling depressed, saying, “Some days I have more questions than I have answers.” He and Sue strike the same pose that two of the aliens from his tiny planet had on the first page.

The FF meet with Onoffon, and we catch up to what’s happening with the FF’s finances. During the time when the team was broke in the Marvel Knights series, Reed managed to develop some new patents to bring in fresh income, but now he owes income tax on those new patents, and is now being audited. Ben jokes about wanting to get paid, and Onoffon says his fortune is secure. Turns out that when the FF was broke it was only Reed, Sue, and Johnny’s percentages that were turned over to the government, because Reed has power of attorney for himself, Sue, and Johnny. Ben, however, didn’t lose his one-fourth of the business. He still has all his FF money from before. Got all that?

Onoffon can’t answer how much money Ben has, because there’s not enough space on his calculator for that many zeroes. Ben is rich, and Johnny facepalms and says, “This is so going to be bad.” Ben jumps up and down on a couch (without destroying it) chanting, “I’ve got money! I’ve got money!” Then there’s a cheap gag where he runs into the bathroom because he’s eaten too many hot dogs.

Later, Nick Fury visits Reed, saying that the S.H.I.E.L.D. and the US government are willing to forgive the FF for the Latveria incident (long story). Fury says the government wants to hire Reed as a consultant on a confidential project, Reed can only offer with an address and a date to begin, and no other info. Reed agrees. This is followed by a gag of Ben sitting on the FF’s Xerox machine, photographing his own butt.

That night, Reed explains to Sue that they could use the money, and it’s important to get back on good terms with the US. He reveals to her that the meeting is scheduled the next morning at an air force base in Nevada. He plays some music for her, that he says comes from “very far away,” and we the readers surmise that music came from the planet and the start of the issue. Then there’s a gag where Bill Gates gets a package from Ben, containing what Gates thinks is a photo of the Grand Canyon. Get it???

Reed arrives at a top-secret hidden base in Nevada. His plane must fly through some kind of shield or portal to get to it. Reed meets with a unnamed scientist, whom the Marvel Wiki identifies as Dr. Crane. He hints that the base was paid for by the funds the government seized from FF inc. Crane has been studying the cosmic rays that gave the FF their powers. He says attempts to recreate that event have been inconsistent, because it required a multitude of factors all meeting in the right quantities and the right moment in time. He says that the event, nicknamed “the jackpot” is about to happen again in just a few weeks.

Crane asks for info about Reed’s original spaceship that took the FF into space. He then goes on to say that giving people superpowers is unpredictable, but in this case, they can use the jackpot not just to replicate the creation of the FF’s powers, but to control the creation of those powers. Not just for four astronauts, but more than thirty. He shows Reed a team of astronauts ready to go, and he tells Reed, “You’re about to change the face of the known world for a second time.”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: There’s no backstory on where Reed got this tiny planet from, or why he’s studying it so intensely. It works as metaphor, though, in that Reed feels like up to him to take care of the entire world.

Fade out: Sue is back to classic Sue in this one, trying to get Reed out of spending too much time in his lab instead of with his family. I’d thought the characters had moved beyond this by now.

Clobberin’ time: Ben gets queasy after earing seventeen hot dogs. With his super strength, you’d think his metabolism could handle that. I wonder if it’s psychosomatic, and his body is really reacting to the shock of learning he’s rich.

Flame on: Johnny uses his powers to heat up Ben’s hot dogs, rather than use the oven. I assume this is because they’re having company over.

Four and a half/Our gal Val: Franklin and Valeria are shown at home playing with a dog. What dog is this? Where’d it come from? It’s not the teleporting dog Puppy from the Chris Claremont days, so who is it?

SUE-per spy: The 2019 Invisible Woman miniseries revealed that Sue had a double life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent all along. There’s no way of knowing how the Latveria incident affected that, yet Sue is not present for Reed and Fury’s conversation. Was this her maintaining her cover?

Trivia time: Can we consider Bill Gates a Marvel character? He has no page on the Marvel Wiki, which instead just links to Gates’ Wikipedia page.

The accountant Mr. Onoffon never appeared again after this. With a name like that, I expected him to be revealed as a robot or something, but it never happened.

Fantastic or frightful? JMS is clearly thinking in terms of long arcs, because this issue is all setting up things that will play out over the next several issues. I’m not a fan of the toilet/butt jokes, but, hey, that’s comics. The best bit in the issue is the opening, where JMS does his “sci-fi philosophic musings” thing he did so well on Babylon 5. A mixed bag, but it’s exciting to get an interesting new voice on the series.

Next: Forbidden Love.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a city full of far-out technology and hidden dark magic. The first three chapters are FREE, so give it a shot! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Time for more alchemy, dream-sharing weirdness, and possible Northern Exposure references in issue #526.

Recap: After an adventure in the Microverse, the Fantastic Four had an encounter with Diablo, the master alchemist. Diablo has recovered the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, and he says he will turn all the lead in New York into gold unless the FF allow him use of their time machine so he can go back and stop the Spanish Inquisition. Diablo gave the FF a few days to think about his demands, during which the heroes started having each other’s dreams, making them irritable and uneasy.

We begin with a flashback to the Inquisition, where Diablo (who is immortal, remember) being captured for blasphemy and buried alive as punishment. We then see that this is Alicia, having one of Diablo’s dreams. She was sleeping in a machine in Reed’s lab, helping him determine that this “dream fever” is spreading and infect the entire Earth in a matter of days (!). Ben and Johnny argue, while Sue says that Diablo’s deadline is in the morning. If he succeeds, it’ll cause a frenzy in NYC.

In Diablo’s apartment (hotel room?) he wakes from a dream about Reed and Sue’s children. He sheds his skin like a snake (!), which he calls his . He monologues to himself about the Philosopher’s Stone, which he says can do much more than turn lead into gold.

At the new Baxter Building, Ben suspects General Quark, the unseen enemy they fought in the Microverse, is the cause of the dream fever. Reed says there’s no way Quark will talk to them. Sue interrupts and asks Reed to turn on the external cameras. This reveals that the entire exterior of the building is now gold. While the FF are worried about looters coming after the building, Diablo shows up on a flying carpet. He tells them accept that he’s already won their conflict.

A short fight breaks out, with Diablo turning his flying saucer into fiery snakes. Reed breaks up the fight, deducing that Diablo has the dream fever as well. Diablo uses the Philosopher’s Stone, which reveals the infection. Dibalo then uses the stone to cure himself, but he won’t use it to cure everyone else unless Reed lets him use the time machine. They fight some more, with Johnny and Reed getting the Philosopher’s Stone out of Diablo’s hands and into theirs. Sue surrounds their HQ with a force field. Stuck outside, Diablo warns, “You forget you’re dealing with Diablo! You’re dealing with the devil.”

Reed attaches the Philosopher’s Stone to a device and activates it, turning the Baxter Building back to normal. The FF are thrown back by energy as it does this, and then Diablo appears in Reed’s lab, saying “It worked perfectly.” Reed deduces that once the stone was activated, it acted like a doorway, allowing Diablo to bypass all the building’s defenses. There’s another fight, with Diablo using smoke to confuse the heroes. Ben, still acting erratic thanks to the dream fever, inadvertently leads Diablo to the time machine. With the stone in hand, Diablo enters the time machine, ready to change history so he becomes ruler of the Earth.

It looks like the Fantastic Four have lost, but Reed then explains that this is not the time machine, but the interdimensional portal. Diablo has ended up not in the Microverse, but in an unknown dimension that has survivable living conditions, but it is completely uninhabited. Sue remarks that Diablo finally got to rule a world, one with himself as the only subject.

Later, Sue and Johnny have a heart-to-heart chat. She reveals that she was seeing his dreams. In his dream, Johnny is surrounded by several of his ex-girlfriends. He loses control of his powers and burns them all, crying, “You don’t understand what I can do to you!” Sue says this is a part of Johnny that he never shares with anyone, that he never had a girlfriend for long for fears that he might harm someone he cares about. Johnny says his power is like a gun, in that no matter how careful he is, there’s always a danger. He tells Sue she’s lucky to have someone like Reed in her life, and that he loves her more than Johnny will ever be able to love anyone.

Reed and Sue then have a heart-to-heart, establishing that Reed managed to cure the dream fever with the stone before Diablo disappeared with it. Reed says he doesn’t know who had his dreams. Sue wonders if this means someone out in New York dreamed of blackboards with endless equations. Reed says dreams aren’t just stress and worry, but also wants and desires. Sue asks Reed what he wants, and he tells her, “Only you!”

Unstable molecule: How strong is Reed? He stretches his arms around a lamppost, pulls it out of the street, and uses it as a huge club against Diablo.

Fade out: Sue is getting stronger. During the John Byrne years, she struggled in surrounding just the top of the Baxter Building with a force field. In this issue, she surrounds the entire building with one without breaking a sweat.

Clobberin’ time: Diablo uses his alchemy to trap Ben in the floor of Reed’s lab, leading to jokes about how he’s now shorter, or like a piece of the furniture. Johnny then frees him.

Flame on: What to make of Johnny’s feat of burning a loved one paralleling the temporary nature of his relationships? I’m not sure. I’d argue that’s an aspect of Johnny’s character, but not one that explains everything.

Our gal Val: Baby Valeria shows up in a few panels. She looks like she’s back to normal and has overcome having Ben’s nightmares.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Crystal appears in Johnny’s dream, asking if he ever truly loved her. He says he loved her more than she’ll ever know. Frankie Raye is also in the dream for one panel.

The Alicia problem: Lyja shows up in Johnny’s dream as well. She reminds him that they were once married, and she asks him if that meant anything to him. His only response is, “You don’t understand.”

Trivia time: In addition to Crystal, Lyja, and Frankie, the other ex-girlfriends in Johnny’s dream are Dorrie Evans, Cole from the new Frightful Four, and the Valeria of the fifth dimension (unrelated to Valeria Richards, or Dr. Doom’s lost love Valeria). Johnny romanced this Valeria back in the Strange Tales days.

Diablo’s timeline is a little off compared to the timeline I set for myself on this blog, but that’s okay. After this, he appeared in the Marvel Knights 4 spinoff, in that unfinished story involving Nicholas Scratch. Then he was one of several cameos in that supervillain gathering in Fantastic Four: Foes. He’ll be back in issue #551.

The Microverse villain Captain Quark is only mentioned and never seen, and the story of his conflict with the FF has never been told. That’s expected, but the real question is what became of Quark? In this issue, he and his soldiers are being held prisoner in the new Baxter Building, and that’s the last we hear. Have they been there all this time? (No word on whether this is related to the Ratchet and Clank character of the same name.)

None of the comic fan sites I frequent have mentioned this, but I feel it’s worth noting that this story arc bears similarity to the 1994 Northern Exposure episode “Mr. Sandman.” That one featured the townsfolk of Cicely, Alaska experiencing everyone else’s dreams, and wrangling with knowing each other’s private thoughts.

Fantastic or frightful? Kind of a simple story, and I’m not sure the dream stuff gels with the Diablo plot. But there’s a lot of fast-paced action and nice character moments, in the classic Marvel style.

Next: Our last, best hope…

* * * *

Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a city full of far-out technology and hidden dark magic. The first three chapters are FREE, so give it a shot! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. After spending the last few months looking some of the many FF-related spinoffs that Marvel produced in abundance from 2002 to 2005, we’re back to the main series and the return of a classic villain in issue #525.

What’s all this, then? Mark Waid and Mike Weiringo have ended their famous run on the series, but Waid’s co-writer Karl Kesel is sticking around, maintaining a similar tone. There’s a real sense of “Let’s keep the party going” in this issue’s tone. Tom Grummett is the new penciler, with Larry Stucker on inks, Paul Mounts on colors, and Randy Gentile on letters. Comics guru Tom Brevoort is still on as editor.

Alicia is babysitting little Franklin and Valeria when the FF return from an unseen adventure in the Microverse. Alicia tells everyone that NYC’s Chesler Hotel is being torn down, not by the city, but by the building’s residents. They’ve apparently gone insane and are holding hostages inside. Johnny flies to the building, where he finds all the residents are destroying the building from the inside because they’re searching for treasure hidden in the walls or under the floors.

A short fight breaks out between the residents and Johnny and Ben, before Reed breaks it up. The residents use the water pipes to attack Johnny, and Ben suspects something is up with the water. Reed has Sue turn the entire building invisible except for the plumbing. She reveals all the pipes are not ceramic or metal, but gold. Reed says the pipes were originally lead, which means someone turned the lead to gold. Sue exclaims, “Alchemy!” and on cue, the evil alchemist Diablo appears. They fight, until Diablo says he’s there to return the gold back to lead. He’s acquired the famous Philosopher’s Stone, and makes the pipes lead again.

Diablo retells part of his origin story. Back in 9th century Spain, he mastered the potions that gave him eternal youth, and he survived torture and captivity during the Spanish Inquisition. He swore revenge, and he says today is the day. He wants to use the FF’s time machine inside the new Baxter Building to go back and stop the Inquisition from happening. Reed refuses, fearing that Diablo really wants to go back in time to conquer the world. Diablo says he will transform parts of New York into gold each day until Reed relents. He gives them two days to think it over, and then he disappears.

Cut to the next morning, when everyone is concerned about what Diablo will do. At the breakfast table, Franklin describes a dream he had, where he was confronted by Doctor Doom. Ben describes a similar dream, like something out of an old monster movie, where he’s chased by torch-wielding villagers. Johnny interrupts breakfast, irritable and short-tempered. Sue urges him not to lose control and she tells him to take the day off, Diablo or no Diablo.

Reed has been up all night, running tests on a pipe from the building. He hopes to track transmutational residue from it back to Diablo’s location. Elsewhere, Sue is in the business office for Fantastic Four Inc., talking to chief financial officer Jian about Johnny’s ongoing work of co-running the company. Jian says Johnny is doing well, and customers like him and are attracted to him. “Like moths to a flame,” Sue adds.

The next night, Reed reveals to Franklin that he too had a strange dream. He saw himself carrying a huge sack of mail through the city during a blizzard, only to attacked by a bunch of the FF’s villains. Franklin then reveals that mailman Willie Lumpkin told him he had the exact same dream. Reed wakes everyone else up and asks about their dreams. Ben had a dream of losing control of the Fantasticar and falling, and Reed says that’s a common type of dream for a child.

Reed fears that the FF are all having each other’s dreams. Further, without their own dreams, they won’t be able to sleep properly, which will make then more and more irritable and unable to think clearly. Sue says they’ve got to go after Diablo, but Reed says, “I don’t believe Diablo had anything to do with this.”

Unstable molecule: Franklin’s dream of Dr. Doom included the sensation of not being afraid of Doom. This suggests that he was having Reed’s dream.

Fade out: In the office, Sue asks Jian about an invoice for Vibranium. Although Black Panther is a long-standing ally to the FF, I find it unlikely that Wakanda is selling its most important resource to anyone. The Marvel Wiki states there’s also an Antarctic Vibranium, which was involved in a She-Hulk story, so perhaps this is the Vibranium the FF are buying.

Clobberin’ time: Ben swallows a huge stack of pancakes during breakfast, a shoutout to him doing the same back in the Jack Kirby days.  

Flame on: The hotel residents manage to put out Johnny’s flame by dousing him with water, even though it’s been a long, long time since he overcame that weakness. My guess is that Johnny’s off his game due to the dream stuff.  

Four and a half: With all this talk of dreams, there’s no mention of Franklin’s former dream-based powers he had in his Power Pack days. Franklin is still powerless during this time, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Our gal Val: There are a few references to baby Valeria crying all night. Ben suspects that poor Val has been having his nightly nightmares.

Trivia time: What’s Diablo been up to? Remember that the last time we saw him in Fantastic Four, the elemental creatures he summoned drew him into an unnamed abyss. In a follow-up Avengers storyline, he sent a simulacrum of himself to Earth in search of artifact that could free him. Diablo got caught up in the Avengers’ battle against an army of Hulks (!) in which the duplicate was destroyed, and he remained in the abyss. That leads into this issue, with no explanation of how he escaped and made it back to Earth. The theory is that the Philosopher’s Stone was instrumental in his escape.

And what about that Philosopher’s Stone? Despite being a popular myth for hundreds of years before a certain boy wizard made it a household name, this storyline is the only time the Marvel version of it appears. The stone gets a mention in a 2020 Black Cat comic, however, so it might return someday.

Fantastic or frightful? Rather than a soft reboot with a flashy new #1 issue, the new creative team picks up where the previous left off, maintaining subplots and a similar tone. This is something comics don’t do anymore. But Kesel, Grummet, and company come out swinging with a fun issue full of action and mystery. Good stuff.

Next: More dream stuff.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my new ongoing serial, THE SUBTERKNIGHTS, on Kindle Vella. A man searches for his missing sister in a city full of far-out technology and hidden dark magic. The first three chapters are FREE, so give it a shot! Click here for a list of all my books and serials.