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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Comics in the mid-to-late ‘80s were often accused of “going dark,” and, yeesh, that’s certainly true for issue #283.

To recap: Psycho-Man recently attacked New York, inciting hate-fueled riots and taking over Sue’s mind, turning her into the villain Malice. Now the FF have traveled to Psycho-Man’s home in the Microverse, with Sue determined to enact vengeance. Also a refresher on Psycho-Man: He’s a microscopic-sized guy inside a human-sized suit of armor (human-sized to us, epically gigantic to him). He has technology that can manipulate people’s emotions — he can make lovers become enemies, turn enemies to friends, etc. Got all that?

The previous issue ended with everyone’s sizes messed up in the Microverse, so a gigantic Psycho-Man trapped the tiny FF in glass tubes. As this issue begins, it’s as if we’ve skipped a big chunk of the story, with our heroes wandering around outside the Microverse. Only, something is wrong. Reed is older and grey-haired, Johnny is a little kid, and Ben is back in place of She-Hulk, in a half-human, half-Thing form. It gets clearer that something is wrong as we see Johnny, Ben, and Reed die horrifically at the dangers of the Microverse. All alone, Sue breaks down in tears, and then sees the ghosts of her parents, chiding her for being a quitter. Yep, it’s all a dream. Sue wakes up in Psycho-Man’s laboratory, screaming in anguish.

We get a lot of exposition recapping the last few issues, with Psycho-Man boasting to Reed, Sue, and Johnny, still trapped in their glass tubes, about how he has become master of all the Microverse. (Does Baron Karza know about this?) Psycho-Man has been monitoring the FF, so he knows about Sue’s drive for revenge, and he set up a trap for them, making them shrink too much upon entry into the Microverse. This allows him to be a giant compared to them. Although Psycho-Man failed to conquer Earth, he says he will be satisfied instead by breaking Sue’s will, psychologically torturing her by bombarding her mind with doubt and fear.

We then check in with She-Hulk, who is locked up in an old-timey dungeon, all made of wood and stone. She says Psycho-Man separated her from her teammates and locked her up down here. She threatens to beat up two guards, who are kinda/sorta dressed like Spanish conquistadors. All they have to do is say “Boo,” and She-Hulk falls to the ground in terror. They explain that Psycho-Man hit her with his fear ray, making her subservient to them. Then they say she will be sent to the Mines of Nuvidia.

Back in Psycho-Man’s lab, Reed says their powers cannot break through the impenetrable glass material of their cages, but air is able to get in. Reed uses advanced relaxation techniques to lower his stretching powers to minimum molecular cohesion, so his body is almost like a liquid. This allows him to flow out the tube’s tiny air hole.

Reed attacks Psycho-Man, stretching himself around the villain’s neck. Psycho-Man fights back by flipping a switch that causes Sue to experience ultimate agony. Reed tells Sue to fight, and resist it, while he squeezes of Psycho-Man’s armor’s head. He pulls out the real Psycho-Man, who looks just like his armor. Without his tech, Psycho-Man is helpless against the FF.

Then there’s a whole bunch of sci-fi technobabble about how Reed figured out Psycho-Man was lying to them. The gist of it is that the FF did not shrink down too far, but Psycho-Man built an oversized armor and ridiculously huge lab as a “set,” to make them think they’d shrunk down too far. It makes no sense. A still-distraught Sue asks, “Where’s Jennifer?” Then we turn the page to see She-Hulk working in the mines as a slave, hauling huge rocks and being whipped the guards, who tell her, “You work until you die!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed turning into an almost-liquid state is neat, never-before-seen use of his powers. The question is, did he already know he could do this, or was this a first-try act of desperation?

Fade out: I believe this issue and the next is Sue at her lowest point, as the misery and anguish just keeps piling on top of her. More on this next week.

Clobberin’ time: No reason is given why Ben is half-human in Sue’s dream. Maybe this is how her subconscious has always seen him?

Flame on: For as dark and intense as this story is, Johnny maintains his sense of humor, playfully calling Reed “fearless leader” at one point.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk’s fear subplot would appear to mirror Sue’s fear and doubt in the main story. Why isn’t Psycho-Man manipulating the dudes’ emotions?

Commercial break: What could be better?

Trivia time: In between his first appearance in Fantastic Four and this story arc, Psycho-Man appeared only one other time, in Micronauts #14-17, which also guest-starred the FF.

Fantastic or frightful? A challenging read, because of how hard and brutal all this is. Sue just keeps getting emotionally tortured, and now She-Hulk does too. It’s always darkest before the dawn, right? Right?!?

Next week: Girl, you’ll be a woman soon.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In issue #282, we’ve got anger issues, a journey to innerspace, and a crossover that’s not a crossover.

We begin with Franklin, who is having another one of his prophetic dreams. If you’d been reading Power Pack during this time, you’d know that Franklin has new, dream-based superpowers. This dream is a mini-Power Pack issue, with Franklin fighting a Snark alien, befriending the Pack’s alien pal Kofi, and then meeting the Power kids themselves. This would seem to take place before Franklin joins the team, an event occurring simultaneously to this FF story arc. Oh, Marvel continuity, you and your confusing timelines.

Franklin wakes from the dream, to a reminder that the FF are now living at Avengers mansion. He makes his way to the lab, where Reed has rebuilt the FF’s reducto-craft, for traveling to and from the Microverse. Reed is unsure whether travelling to the Microverse right now is the right thing to do, knowing that the godlike Beyonder is currently walking around Earth unchecked. She-Hulk says there’s not much the FF can do in comparison to the Beyonder’s omnipotent power, but Reed wonders if he can reach the Beyonder on an emotional level and direct him toward doing good things with his power.

The debate pretty much ends when Sue shows up, because she is furious. She doesn’t care at all about the Beyonder, only about getting revenge for her being transformed into the villain Malice in the last few issues. It’s at this moment that comic finally, FINALLY reveals that Psycho-Man is the one behind Sue’s transformation and the attack on New York. It’s not treated as a big reveal, just dropped into the dialogue. Psycho-Man had fled to the Microverse, and Sue insists the FF go there to confront him, bringing him to justice for what he did. She goes on a three-page rant about she doesn’t want justice, but vengeance. Reed agrees to go along with her.

She-Hulk uses her awesome strength to move the reducto-craft into place, where everyone boards it. We see it shrink down into apparent nothingness, as our heroes enter the microverse. They fly through the trippy-looking mircoverse atmosphere, landing on some sort of planetoid. Reed encourages everyone to spread out, suspecting that Psycho-Man is likely already alerted to their presence. Johnny and Reed have an aside, where Reed says helping Sue work through her issues must be a priority, but he admits he’s still worried about the Beyonder running around unchecked.

Can we talk about Secret Wars II? Let’s talk about Secret Wars II. The gimmick was that during the event’s nine-month running time, the series would cross over into every other Marvel comic. The ambition is admirable, but it was not wholly successful. Some of the Marvel writers and artists managed some interesting stuff with the Beyonder character outside the main SWII series, but others did practically nothing with the Beyonder. Often, fans bought a comic with the Secret Wars II logo on the cover, only to find they’d spent money on something unnecessary to the Beyonder’s story. That’s the case with this issue, because as Reed mentions the Beyonder here, we get one measly panel of what the Beyonder is doing on Earth, a recreation of a scene from SWII #3. That is it for this crossover. (To be fair, though, writer-artist John Byrne will use the Beyonder to much better effect in issues 285 and 288.)

After some discussion about the nature of the microverse, Reed says it seems different somehow than before. Johnny flies off to do reconnaissance, only for a giant pair of hands to trap him and seal him in a glass tube. The others rush in, only to also be trapped in glass tubes. It’s Psycho-Man, who is towering over them as a giant, hundreds of feet taller than them. She-Hulk exposits why this is important by exclaiming, “He’s supposed to be the same size as us!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed is so good at science that he not only rebuilt the reducto-craft from memory, but he did it all in only six hours.

Fade out: Sue’s three-page angry rant is pretty tough to get through, though she makes a point of how instead of following Reed into battle so many times, this time he’s going to follow her. I wonder if they were setting her up for taking over as team leader, with Reed merely being the brains of the group.

Flame on: Upon being captured, Johnny uses quick thinking to signal his teammates at the last second, before getting sealed away.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk is astonished how the FF treat a dangerous journey into the microverse as if it’s another day at the office.

Four and a half: Franklin’s dream takes place in a destroyed New York. I guess we’re to think this is what would’ve happened if Power Pack hadn’t stopped those evil Snarks. Franklin’s “4 1/2” sweater makes a reappearance, and his pajamas have a fancy “F” monogram.

Commercial break: “You want Reese’s Pieces, do ya?”

Trivia time: This issue establishes that the microverse does not actually exist on a microscopic size. Instead, it’s merely an alternate dimension that can only be accessed by shrinking. A lot of fans over the years have debated the validity of this, apparently not knowing the difference between comic book astrophysics and real world astrophysics.

Fantastic or frightful? This is another in between issue, picking up where the last one left off and then setting up the next one. Although the Beyonder ended up not being all that great of a character, it’s still a disappointment to have this be part of the big crossover and not cross over at all. So, a mixed bag of an issue.

Next week: Kick ‘em while they’re down.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #281 brings the intensity in a big way.

Let’s see if I can recap this: Two villains are inciting hate-fueled riots throughout New York, which is especially bad timing for our heroes, who recently survived the destruction of their home headquarters. What’s more, the villains have taken over Sue’s mind, turning her into the supervillain Malice, and having her defeat She-Hulk. Whew. As the issue begins, the two villains look over the city, which is in flames. The question is, just who are these villains. The shape-changer who previously called himself Unger now calls himself the Hate-Monger, but he’s not the original Hate-Monger who, you might remember, was Hitler. The other villain is clearly Psycho-Man, criminal mastermind from the microverse, except that the comic is still refusing to actually tell us he’s Psycho-Man. Unger says all human prejudices are at their extreme, and he makes a comment about creating a new microcosm, which seems to suggest that these two have a bigger plan beyond just causing riots. Psycho-Man negates that, though, by saying his end game is revenge against the FF.

Turn the page and there’s Daredevil, parkour-ing around the city doing crowd control. He saves an old woman from getting beaten up by thugs, only for the woman to attack him instead of thanking him. Knowing this is more than a riot, Daredevil decides to check in with Avengers Mansion. At the mansion, where the FF are temporarily living, Johnny can’t reach Alicia on the phone, while Reed reinstates that the paper on the “Hate” pamphlets is of alien origin. Jarvis the butler steps in and says the situation in NYC is worsening. Johnny heads out over the city, drawing the flame from all the fires into himself. He spots Alicia (who, let’s not forget, is really Lyja the Skrull in disguise) and goes to her. She was with Sue when a man who appeared to be Reed approached them. Alicia felt a wave of pure hatred so powerful that she blacked out. Johnny flies her back to the mansion, and we see She-Hulk down on the street, recovering from last issue’s fight.

At the roof of Avengers Mansion, Reed has already invented a device that will counter-attack the “hypno-poison” affecting all of New York. Before he can turn it on, Malice (really Sue) attacks, and we get several pages of her fighting Reed and then Johnny. She’s able to fight them easily, with them not realizing she’s using invisible force fields.

Daredevil joins them, asking why they’re fighting an amorphous blob. This is because his radar sense only picks up a large round shape instead of a woman. Reed figures out that DD is “seeing” a force field around Malice, and he figures out it’s Sue. She unmasks, and gives a big speech about how Reed doesn’t respect her.

Rather than keep fighting, Reed decides to play along, pretending to disrespect and ignore Sue. He even slaps her, in a panel that has upset a lot of readers over the years. Her hatred goes to extreme levels, and then she breaks down crying, apparently cured. Sue has no memory at first, but then recovers and recalls just who did this to her. She swears revenge. The story is then concluded in the pages of Secret Wars II #2, in which the rioters disperse, Psycho-Man narrowly escapes, Unger is killed by the vigilante Scourge, and a furious Sue still swears revenge.

Unstable molecule: Reed says his curing Sue by tricking her is merely a guess. That’s one heck of a guess, Mr. Scientist!

Fade out: Sue’s powers are truly invisible in this issue. There are no “see-through” lines to let us know she’s using her power. Instead we only see the results of her using the power.

Flame on: Johnny makes a big deal about being able to control flame he doesn’t generate himself, as he stops the fires in New York.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk only appears in two panels, just we know she’s not dead, I guess.

The Alicia problem: Johnny speculates that the shape-changing Unger might be a Skrull, and Lyja calls the Skrulls “those evil aliens.” Clearly, she’s afraid her former masters will learn she’s switched sides.

Commercial break: Cheese stickers!

Trivia time: The letters page contains a letter from the one and only Stan Lee, who praises issue #273, saying “the mag just keeps getting better and better” and “you keep doing our little foursome proud.”

Fantastic or frightful? After spending 280 issues with these characters, it’s near-painful to see Sue in such a dark place. This arc hasn’t concluded yet, but I believe this is her hitting rock bottom. Beyond that, though, the artwork is stellar and the emotional stakes are powerful, making it a great issue.

Next week: When is a crossover not a crossover?

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. As issue #280 begins, our heroes have been brought to their lowest, with their home destroyed and anger running rampant in the streets. What more could go wrong?

We begin with the FF at the site of the former Baxter Building, recapping to police the events of the previous issue. The child Kristoff, posing as Dr. Doom, launched the building into space and blew it up. Reed says to a storeowner that all the other businesses in the building will compensated for their losses. While Reed explains this, a fight breaks out among police, and they attack She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot, who is also at the scene. She-Hulk starts to fight back, but Reed stops her, saying not to resist arrest, and that he suspects something is going on.

This is only the beginning, as an angry mob surrounds the FF, throwing bricks at them. Sue holds them back with a force field, while Reed says they shouldn’t use their powers against ordinary humans. We then see the shape-changer Unger and his mysterious master, watching this from a distance. After Johnny flies Reed to Avengers Mansion, Unger transforms himself to look just like Reed. (The comic doesn’t tell us this yet, but I’ll spoil it: Unger’s master is Psycho-Man, the FF’s enemy from the Microverse. You can kind of tell, so I don’t know why they’re not just saying it.)

Avengers Mansion is also surrounded by angry protestors. We learn this is where the FF have been staying, and Jarvis the butler produces one of the pamphlets Unger has been passing out around the city, encouraging hatred of all kinds. Reed says he’ll investigate the pamphlet in the lab.

Out in New York, the police van carrying She-Hulk and Wyatt is struck by unseen powerful force, freeing them. She-Hulk suspects it was a bomb, as the streets have gone full-on riot, with looting, fires, and graffiti everywhere. She then gets attacked by a woman wearing a kinky black outfit, complete with a black leather mask covered with metal spikes. The woman introduces herself as Malice, the mistress of hate.

She-Hulk tries to fight Malice, only for Malice to throw her around with some sort of telekinesis. She-Hulk keeps fighting back, only for Malice to cut off her oxygen. Reed appears, only it isn’t Reed but Unger in disguise. Malice thanks him for setting her free and teaching her the ways of hate. Malice then takes off her mask and… she’s really been Sue this whole time!

At the science lab in Avengers Mansion, Reed has deduced that the pamphlet is of alien origin. Franklin appears (he’s staying there, too), having just woken up from a prophetic dream. He’s terrified, because in his dream he saw Sue murder Reed.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed says that although the other businesses in the Baxter Building don’t have insurance, he’ll have no trouble compensating them for their losses. It’s probably best not to over-think how the economics of Fantastic Four Inc. work.

Fade out: Look closely, and you can see some rubble collected around She-Hulk’s neck when Malice cuts off her oxygen, revealing that it’s Sue using her force fields.

Flame on: Johnny is the comic relief in this issue, making a joke every time he speaks.

Fantastic fifth wheel: If Reed hadn’t stopped She-Hulk, would she have gone ahead and beaten up those cops? I’m thinking she might have.

Four and a half: The same month as this issue, Franklin officially became a member of Power Pack, using his new dream-based powers to help the super-kids fight evil. He got a red costume and the hugely unfortunate code name, Tattletale.

The Alicia problem: Sue turns herself and Alicia, who is of course Lyja the Skrull in disguise, invisible to sneak through the angry mob. Can we extrapolate that Lyja is already good at this sort of thing, being an expert shape-shifter already?

Commercial break: From skinny to terrific:

Trivia time: Parts of both this issue and the next cross over with Secret Wars II #2, where we see just how Unger was able to transform Sue into Malice so quickly. He just touched her and mentally transferred all of his own hate into her. That issue also recreates the scene of She-Hulk and Wyatt getting arrested, and Reed studying the pamphlet in the lab.

Fantastic or frightful? All the racism stuff from the last few issues are downplayed in favor of a city in crisis and superhero fightin’ in this one, which is a relief. Still, after so much tragedy heaped on Sue, now we see her turn evil. This arc is where the series is at its darkest. It’s powerful stuff, but it’s up to you decide for yourself how dark is too dark.

Next week: Malice in not-so-wonderland.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #279 finds us during a run of issues in which things get all dark and dreary. It begins with our heroes in a bad place, and everything just gets worse.

To recap: Dr. Doom is still dead (as far as anyone knows) but his Doombots have secretly been running things in his absence. They hooked up Doom’s ward Kristoff to a machine that gave him Doom’s memories. Kristoff/Doom then successfully launched the entire Baxter Building into space and blew it the heck up. The FF, along with Franklin and Wyatt Wingfoot, appear to be dead. Once Doom’s probe flies away, they come to, with breathable air inside one of Sue’s invisible force fields. Then there’s a lot of business about how to get safety back to Earth. Reed stretches into an aerodynamic shape for Sue’s force field to match. She lets out a little bit of air to propel it toward Earth, and Johnny absorbs the heat built up in re-entry. Reed manages to propel them straight to Latveria, where they land right outside Castle Doom.

Johnny flies off to let out the excess heat he’s built up, and the rest of the team crashes right through the castle. They’re attacked by Doom’s security bots — the purple robots, different from the Doombots. We get several pages of the FF fighting the robots, smashing them up real good.

Deeper within the castle, Kristoff refuses to believe the FF are alive, even after the Doombots insist they’re under attack. The Doombots fret over what to do, because they are not programmed to interfere with their master. The FF burst into the room and destroy the Doombots, with Reed deducing that they were the ones behind the attack. She-Hulk rips open Dr. Doom’s armor and is shocked to discover Kristoff, a little kid, inside it.

Reed then deduces that Dr. Doom’s memories have been uploaded into Kristoff’s brain as a contingency plan in case of Doom’s death, so he can live on through the kid. Only Kristoff has no idea he’s Kristoff. He keeps insisting he’s the one and only Dr. Doom. Reed starts to say he’ll take Kristoff to his lab, but then it hits him that they’ve just lost their home. All their possessions, all those memories, all gone. He asks, “What more could possibly go wrong?” Oh, Reed, you shouldn’t have said that.

Cut to New York, at a white power rally, where a blond man is inciting a crowd to racial violence. (The “n-word” gets used again.) In private, the man, whose name is Unger, speaks to his master, a person hidden in shadow. Unger transforms from a white man into a black woman, and states his plan to further spread the message of hate, this time at a meeting of the Black Women’s Defense League. Unger says he/she is planting seeds of destruction that will grow, and grow, and grow.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed’s arm is still in a cast in this issue, seen prominently on the cover, after the fight with Mephisto in the previous arc.

Fade out: Kristoff didn’t take Sue’s force field powers into account due to a flaw in Doom’s programming.

Flame on: We’re told that Johnny can only absorb so much heat before he has to release it. This is in addition to being able to generate flame on his own.

Fantastic fifth wheel: There’s a big deal made of She-Hulk’s gloves getting ripped up. This is because the unstable molecules are not indestructible, but merely adaptable to the FF’s powers.

Four and a half: Franklin seems just fine with being stranded in space, probably because he trusts his folks to save the day. During the fight in Latveria, Wyatt is tasked with protecting Franklin and getting him out of the castle.

Commercial break: Supreme Leader Snoke is really a Nagai! Everything makes perfect sense now!

Trivia time: The destruction of the Baxter Building will have a lasting effect for quite some time, and the FF will go through a few alternate headquarters in the years to come. But, just as all dead comic book characters eventually come back to life, so do dead buildings.

The Marvel Wiki informs me that Kristoff’s last name is Vernard.

Fantastic or frightful? The action and fighting are fun, but the one-two punch of the FF losing their home and the racism subplot/cliffhanger make this one a dark, downer of a read — and it’s still a long way from dawn.

Next week: Takin’ it to the streets.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the original Fantastic Four comics from the start. Comics of the 1980s were often accused of getting too dark, and, hoo boy, do things get dark in issue #278.

The issue begins with Dr. Doom saying, “The time has come!” But didn’t he die? Twice? Doom is saying this to his young adoptee Kristoff, who is in school, which is just him and a tutor. Doom says this is an important day in Kristoff’s life. Doom says this is a dark and ominous day for all of Latveria, and Kristoff must be prepared. They enter a room with a lot of other Dooms, and Kristoff figures out that they’re all Doombots. They inform him that the real Dr. Doom is dead, and the Doombots have been running the country in his place. They tell Kristoff that it is time for him to take their place as the heir of Dr. Doom and ruler of all Latveria.

The Doombots hook Kristoff up to a device called a “Remembrancer,” which causes him to relive Doom’s memories. (It’s an Animus! Is Doom a Templar or an assassin?) The next several pages are a retelling of Dr. Doom’s origin, but with many differences from the one we read in Fantastic Four annual #2. Young Doom loses his parents, romances the lovely Valeria, and learns his mother was once a witch. He studies dark magic and science in equal measure. In college in America, he doesn’t take Reed Richard’s advice before doing an experiment and the experiment blows up in his face. The big change here is that Doom’s facial scars are not as bad as we’d previously been told:

We then get a longer retelling of how Doom met the monks in the mountains and built his suit of armor. Then a shortened version of his first battles against the Fantastic Four. The flashback cuts short, with Kristoff now inside an “exo-suit.” He talks just like Dr. Doom, and no longer like a little kid, saying that he’s figured out how to succeed where Doom once failed in destroying the FF.

In New York, Johnny and Alicia (who is, of course, secretly Lyja the Skrull in disguise) are out for a night on the town, discussing how Ben is back on Earth, but off on his own and no longer a member of the FF. Then they come across a bunch of posters with racial slurs on them. (The “n-word” is prominently featured in this, a Marvel comic book.) Furious, Johnny finds the perpetrator, who is a teenage kid. He lets the kid go, but burns all the posters. A strange figure in body armor watches this from a distance.

At the Baxter Building, Reed is putting Franklin to bed, pondering how Franklin is recovering nicely from his fight with Mephisto last issue. Reed says the powers Franklin used in Mephisto’s realm are not the new mutant powers he’s currently manifesting, which are in the forms of prophetic dreams. He and Sue establish that they’ve lost the house in Connecticut, but will continue to strive to raise Franklin in a loving environment. In the building lobby, She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot are returning from their own night on the town, saying good night to Samuels, the nighttime doorman. She-Hulk and Wyatt kiss, establishing that they’re officially a couple now.

Once Samuels is alone, someone throws a brick through the building’s front window. Only, this is no brick, but a high-tech device of some kind. Not knowing this, Samuels steps outside. While he’s on the sidewalk outside the building, the entire skyscraper somehow, impossibly, lifts up into the sky. Johnny sees this and flies into action, barely reaching the building before it flies into space. Inside, Sue is keeping the atmosphere intact with a giant invisible force field. Kristoff, posing as Doom contacts Reed to gloat, saying he’s been planning this for weeks, right under the FF’s noses. Kristoff/Doom presses a button and the Baxter Building, now floating in orbit, explodes in a giant fireball, taking our heroes with it.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed’s broken arm appears to be healing nicely, because it’s just in a sling, complete with a big cartoony knot tied in the back.

Fade out: Everyone’s pretty casual about Sue extending a force field around the entire Baxter Building, showing how they’ve all gotten used to her increased power levels.

Flame on: Johnny compares the racist posters to something out of Nazi Germany. Could this be foreshadowing the upcoming WWII time travel story?

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk comments that she’s never treated like a monster or a freak in NYC, and that New Yorkers are generally polite around the FF.

Four and a half: There’s a lot of talk about Franklin’s new dream-based powers, which is setting up big things in his future.

The Alicia problem: When Johnny gets upset and flies off, Lyja thinks to herself, “If only I could help him realize he can open up to me!”

Commercial break: Everybody breakdance!

Trivia time: There are a ton of references to issue #6, in which Dr. Doom launched the Baxter Building into space. Kristoff-Doom insists that this time, it’ll work for sure.

It’s not explicitly said, but the probe that freed the Spider-symbiote, and that business with Doom’s mask coming to life and flying around, were both courtesy of the Doombots, setting things up for this issue. These things are often described as being Kristoff’s doing, but here we see they were done before he got fully involved.

Also note that Secret Wars II started at this time. For the next nine issues, the godlike Beyonder walks the Earth, and this casts a wide shadow over the whole Marvel universe.

Fantastic or frightful? The racism stuff is troubling, and the Dr. Doom origin flashback is a continuity headache. The little character moments are well done, though, and it’s one heck of a cliffhanger.

Next week: Have fun storming the castle!

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Here’s another one of those wild experimental issues from writer-artist John Byrne. Every page is split horizontally across the middle. The top half of the issue tells the story of Ben’s return to Earth, while the bottom half picks up from last issue, with Reed and Sue being captured by Mephisto. Got that?

First, let’s catch up with Ben. Remember that evil wizard he was tracking on Battleowrld. Turns out the wizard was Ben’s own subconscious, given form by Battleworld’s wish-fulfillment effect. Almost everything he encountered on Battleworld was a figment of his imagination, including barbarian swordswoman Tarianna. With nothing left there, Ben is back on Earth. Meanwhile, as you’ll remember from the last issue, an exorcist named Elspeth Cromwell accused Reed and Sue of witchcraft, only to discover her own supernatural powers were a trick from Mephisto (Marvel’s version of Satan), who took Reed and Sue hostage. (These recap paragraphs are going to get a lot longer as get closer to the ‘90s, won’t they?)

The dual story page layout looks like this:

Top half: Ben materializes in Central Park, just like everyone else did when they returned from the Secret Wars. In no hurry to see Reed, he decides the first person he wants to see is Alicia.

Bottom half: Sensing a magical disturbance, Dr. Strange travels to Bell Port, Connecticut, where he immediately deduces that “Reed and Sue Benjamin” are really Reed and Sue Richards, with their son Franklin. Problem is, all three are dead!

Top half: At Alicia’s place, Ben knocks on the door, and a shirtless Johnny answers. Uh-oh!!! They start fighting. Ben assumes that Alicia is just another “skirt” for Johnny, while Johnny insists that it’s more than that, and what he was with Alicia is what he’s been searching for all his life. They explain all this while fighting and trashing the apartment. Alicia shows up and yells “Stop!”

Bottom half: In “a place with no true name” (which is obviously Hell), Sue is being tortured by demons. Reed, who has been embedded in some sort of stone column, stands up to Mephisto, calling him a petty superbeing who uses great power for naught but torture and murder. Mephistro responds by stretching Reed’s face all out of shape. Real horrific stuff here.

Top half: Alicia slaps Ben (though he barely feels it) and says that this is not some tawdry affair, but that she and Johnny are truly in love. His ego severely bruised, Ben steps outside, only to see that the sun has gone out, with a giant black shadow covering the entire sky.

Bottom half: Mephisto turns his attention to Sue, saying that it’s impossible for them to die in his world, which lets him hurt them as much as he wants. To prove his point, he impales Sue on a sharp rock, which doesn’t kill her. (Dang!) He says torturing them makes him more powerful.

Top half: A red planet emerges from the darkness, on a collision course with Earth. A gravity wave all over New York causes buildings to crumble Johnny flies Alicia to the Baxter Building for her safety, as their HQ is reinforced against earthquakes. She-Hulk and Wyatt are there, trying and failing to contact Reed and Sue. Alicia informs them that she and Johnny are a couple, and that Ben has just returned.

Bottom half: Dr. Strange teleports into Hell (he can do that, apparently) only to get zapped by Mephisto. Strange casts a spell of revelation to find Franklin sleeping peacefully inside a crystal. Strange wonders why, seeing as how endlessly torturing an innocent child is right up Mephisto’s alley (Geez, this is dark).

Top half: NYC is wrecked with disaster. Ben tries to help a woman, only for her to transform into a Dire Wraith. Oh, that’s right, this issue is also part of a big company-wide crossover. Over in Rom: Spaceknight, Rom had fought for years to stop the Dire Wraiths’ invasion of Earth. In the historic Rom #65, almost all of the Marvel heroes united to help Rom defeat the Wraiths once and for all. They’re the ones who are trashing New York right now.

Bottom half: Reed also notices Franklin, and realizes that here in Hell, the psychic dampeners keeping Franklin’s mutant powers in check don’t apply. He tells Strange to free Franklin, and Strange does. Just in case this issue wasn’t already dark enough, Mephisto says “Watch, then, as your child is torn to shreds, and does not die!!” Before that can happen, Franklin’s world-ending mutant powers return and he blasts Mephisto with powerful energy.

Top half: The Wraith collapses in front of Ben, and the sky returns to normal. We’re told that Rom and all the rest of the Marvel heroes saved the day out in space, but Ben doesn’t know this. At the Baxter Building, She-Hulk has packed her bags, assuming she’s out of the team. Ben shows up and says she can stay. He might be back on Earth, but he’s not rejoining the Fantastic Four.

Bottom half: Reed, Sue, and Franklin’s souls return to their bodies. Franklin is back normal, the whole thing being like a dream to him. As for the exorcist Elspeth Cromwell, she stays in Hell, awaiting her final judgment. Dr. Strange says he cannot go back to rescue her, for such a thing is outside his province. He then faces Alma Chalmers, the superstitious neighbor who called Cromwell and set all this in motion, telling her to always remember the terrible price paid for her actions.

Unstable molecule: For a guy who always claims not to understand magic in favor or science, Reed is surprisingly down with the backwards logic of Hell, and how everybody’s in their astral forms and not their bodies.

Fade out: Because time works differently in Hell, Sue is being tortured for centuries at the start of this issue. This ordeal doesn’t really come up again, but it’s something to remember when she gets pushed to her limit a few issues from now.

Clobberin’ time: You’ll notice Ben returns to Earth with a small object wrapped in cloth. That’s the severed head of Ultron, the only other survivor of Battleworld. West Coast Avengers #7 would later explain what became of Ultron’s head and how it eventually got a new body.

Flame on: There’s a lot of talk about Johnny having various short-lived flings and “conquests” with women in the past, but is that really the case? He’s had a number of girlfriends, but I don’t believe there have been a lot of one-night stands.

Fantastic fifth wheel: She-Hulk says that being a member of the FF has come to mean something really special to her over the last few months, and she’s bummed about the possibility of leaving.

Four and a half: Here we see a return of Franklin’s world-ending powers that were put to a halt around issue #150. This is not related to the psychic/dream-based powers he’s currently developing as a result of the spider-symbiote’s meddling.

The Alicia problem: This is the first time Lyja the Skrull has met Ben, and she’s defending her love for Johnny. I think we can all agree by now that her love for him is genuine and not part of the plot to infiltrate the FF.

Commercial break: Star Comics! Planet Terry and Wally the Wizard were totally the same kid, right? And since when were Fraggles taller than Ewoks?

Trivia time: Dr. Strange says he and Mephisto have fought many times, but they had only met once before, in Defenders #100.

The Marvel Wiki informs me that Elspeth Cromwell never returned after this, so I guess Mephisto got to keep her soul.

Fantastic or frightful? The two-stories-at-once thing works surprisingly well, as this issue is breathlessly paced, so that both stories get simultaneous cliffhangers right before every turn of the page. But it’s also unbelievably, shockingly dark. And things are just going to get darker.

Next week: Burning down the house.

****

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