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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Seems like the epic Negative Zone arc just got started, and now, in issue #255, we’re already barreling toward the big finale.

Previously, an alien named Taranith stole Reed’s consciousness to fuel his psionic-powered spaceship and make an escape from a primitive planet. Separating Reed’s body from the ship effectively killed him. (Got all that?) We begin far away from there, in New York City, with Daredevil doing the superhero jumping-from-rooftop-to-rooftop thing. He comes across the invisible barrier around several blocks of the city, so invisible that even his heightened senses can’t detect it. Inside the Baxter Building, at the center of the barrier, Annihilus explains his evil plan to his captive Alicia. Turns out he’s sick and dying. He’s going to merge Earth’s universe and the Negative Zone into one, destroying them both, and ending his own personal pain in the process. He reveals his scarred face to Alicia (but not to us) but she can’t see it because she’s blind. Annihilus flips out, promising to kill Alicia.

Then we cut to the Negative Zone, where Reed is described as not “dead,” but “mindless.” Johnny tries to fight Taranith, but the alien has deathtraps set up inside the ship. He blasts Johnny with fire extinguisher-type stuff. Sue and Ben chase Taranith around, but because he’s a little worm-like guy, he gets away from them and escapes into further into his ship. He fires up the ship’s engines, and the ship takes off in a spectacular two-page spread.

The FF, with Ben carrying Reed’s body, continue to fight their way through the ship. Taranith is about to open a hatch and throw them out into the vacuum of space, but something stops him. It’s… Reed! Reed’s mind/consciousness/whatever has taken over the ship’s computer , and he’s now in control of the whole ship. Taranith hops into an escape pod and takes off, but the pod malfunctions thanks to years of misuse on the planet, and it explodes. An image of Reed’s face appears on a viewscreen. He says he’s set a course for Earth, and he’ll work on a way to getting his mind back into his body.

Two weeks later (!), Reed has devised a helmet that allows the computer animate his body, but his mind is still not actually in his body. Okay, sure. The ship heads back to that space tunnel thing from issue #251, only to find it destroyed. On the viewscreen, the FF sees an image of Earth before them. Reed deduces that the two universes are being drawn together, towards mutual annihilation. (Yes, Reed actually says the words “mutual annihilation.”)

To be continued… in somebody else’s comic!

Unstable molecule: We’re told that Reed’s powers give his unconscious body a natural resilience to damage, allowing Ben to carry Reed’s body around during the fight.

Fade out: Sue is the one who builds the special helmet for Reed, following his instructions precisely.

Clobberin’ time: Ben uses his pilot knowledge to figure out how gravity works aboard the ship, and how to find the control room.

Flame on: Johnny suspects there are sensors everywhere in this ship, so his strategy is to fly through the ship as fast as he can, before Taranith can react. Unfortunately, Reed takes control of the ship before we learn whether Johnny’s tactic would have worked.

Four and a half: Franklin is shown in one panel, unconscious and still a prisoner of Annihilus.

Commercial break: Kingpin, Turk*, and Bullseye offer you a weirdly complicated subscription deal:

*(Thanks to MarkAndrew for the correction!)

Trivia time: The reason why Annihilus is sick and dying is because Blastaar stole his all-powerful Cosmic Control Rod in Marvel Two-And-One #75.

According to the Marvel Wiki, Taranith never returned after this issue (not counting a flashback in issue #271). That’s too bad, because I always thought he had the makings of a major Marvel baddie — really smart and really, really evil.

Speaking of issue #271, Reed’s experience in this issue, with his brain getting all Matrix-y, will come back to haunt him and subsequently send the team on one of its craziest adventures. We’ll get to that soon enough.

Daredevil’s cameo in this issue takes place between Daredevil #195 and #196. Continuity!

Fantastic or frightful? As a single issue, this one is pretty slim, with not a lot happening. As part of the ongoing Negative Zone story, though, it does what was intended by transitioning from act two to act three. It’s fun to see the tiny Taranith run circles around the FF, and the exterior drawings of the ship in action are some terrific artwork.

Next week: Assemble!

****

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. You guys like Dr. Who, right? Because this issue is as close as we’ve come (so far) to a Fantastic Four/Dr. Who crossover.

We’re continuing our multi-issue arc with our heroes exploring the Negative Zone. On an alien world, a golden-masked, black-robed figure named Taranith welcomes a young married couple into his gigantic citadel, in a celebratory, wedding-like. Deep inside the keep, a pair of doors open, and the young couple scream in terror. We cut from there to the FF, who are visiting this world incognito, dressed like the locals, in a vaguely Arabic style. Reed says the disguises are because he’s detected odd energy signals from the citadel.

Arriving in the city, the FF rent two rooms at a local inn/hotel-type place. Johnny and Ben explore the town, including peeping into a sexy “house of ill repute.” The whole time, Taranith and his spies are watching the FF from afar. Some bandits get the jump on Ben and Johnny, who blow their cover as they fight them off. At the hotel, Reed and Sue are in bed together (wha-hey!) when they, too are attacked. Taranith shows up to stop the fighting, welcoming the FF to the planet Mantracora.

Back in New York, Annihilus is still running around unchecked inside the Baxter Building. He throws a switch that causes all the office workers in the lower floors to be overcome with panic and flee the building. Outside, She-Hulk and the Wasp are out apartment-hunting (!) when the see the panicked mob. The two Avengers run into an invisible barrier surrounding part of the city, with the Baxter Building at its center.

In the Negative Zone, Taranith apologies for his actions and invites the FF inside his citadel. He treats them to a meal, which has been drugged. Reed passes out, and the rest of the team are placed in a featureless room. Ben rips up the floor to find curved metal underneath. Elsewhere, Reed wakes up, with his head attached to an alien device. He’s surrounded by dead bodies also attached to the device. Taranith explains that he is not originally from this world. He’s from a far more technogically advanced place, and his ship crash-landed on this barbaric planet some time ago. He says Reed is the key he needs to get his ship and running again, to get back into space. Also, underneath his robes, Taranith is a little lizard-lookin’ guy.

Sue, Johnny and Ben work together to escape, and find their way to Taranith. Acting without thinking, Ben pulls Reed off of the device, but Reed doesn’t wake up. Taranith explains that Reed’s mind has been transferred to his ship’s “matrix,” where his psionic energy will power the ship for takeoff. In true villain fashion, Taranith adds, “The man you once knew is forever dead!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Does Reed have heightened senses? His scanner didn’t pick up any evidence of drugs in the food, but then he’s able to taste the drug seconds before passing out.

Fade out: Hard to believe, but this is the first time in the comic’s history that Reed and Sue are shown in bed together. Their gettin’ it on in this issue will have serious consequences much later.

Clobberin’ time: To escape the featureless room, Ben uses just one finger. He sticks his finger in a tiny hole and uses its strength to peel up part of the floor. Ben also compares the planet to the movie Zardoz, which I find hilarious.

Flame on: Johnny is now able to focus his mega-powerful nova flame into a single, concentrated beam, which he uses as part of the escape. Sue comments that the nova flame is powerful enough to level an entire city.

Fantastic fourth wheel: Say hello to She-Hulk, everyone! Her appearance in this issue generated a lot of interest, mostly thanks to writer-artist John Byrne drawing her so she looks stunningly beautiful. This issue more or less begins her road to becoming the FF’s most well-known alternate fifth member.

Commercial break: This D&D artwork is interesting, but doesn’t quite capture the whole “fantasy adventure” thing, does it?

Trivia time: What’s the Dr. Who connection? This one explicitly references (some might say rips off) the 1976 episode, “The Mask of Mandragora,” featuring a gold-masked character like this issue. The scene where Taranith removes his helmet to show nothing underneath is direct shout-out to a nearly identical moment in the TV episode.

Fantastic or frightful? Another fun space opera romp, full of dazzling visuals. We get a great villain, Sue taking a leadership role during the escape, and a huge cliffhanger. I can’t think of anything bad to say about this one.

Next week: Insane in the mainframe.

****

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 the next part of the multi-issue Negative Zone arc, promising more spaced-out space adventure.

We begin in the Negative Zone, on board a gigantic spaceship, that’s all cruddy and run-down inside. The aliens on board locate a strange ship and beam it aboard. It’s the Fantastic Four’s exploratory module. Our heroes are quick to comment on the musty stink of the inside of the ship, and Reed estimates that it is ten thousand years old. The aliens rush out to confront our heroes, and there’s a brief fight.

The alien commander stops the fight, and says the FF are their honored guests. They treat the heroes to a lavish meal, which Reed says is safe to eat. The commander tells his story. The aliens are from the planet Kestor, which was once a paradise. After a series of eco-disasters, it was decided that the planet was no longer inhabitable, so the entire population was loaded onto an arc. Most are in suspended animation, except for the crew and their descendants. Then, there was another disaster, which shorted out the ship’s computer, erasing the location of their new home world. The aliens have been wandering space ever since, in hopes of finding it. Reed takes a look at the computer and says there are backups that he might be able to fix.

Back on Earth, Julie Angel is hanging out with her roommate Sharon. Julie has just got a spunky new short haircut, and calls the Baxter Building to ask if Johnny wants to come over a see it. Annihilus is still lurking all alone inside the Baxter Building, and he inexplicably answers the phone (!) and tells Julie off. He then collapses, finding it hard to breathe. He removes his exo-skeletal helmet (we don’t see his face) and, although we don’t learn his plan yet, he promises annihilation for both his universe and ours.

In the Negative Zone, Reed has located a planet nearly identical to Kestor. The alien arc lands, and the commander and his number one are first to set foot on this new world. It’s a lush green paradise, complete with pretty butterflies, but the aliens won’t have it. They rush back into the ship, calling the planet foul and polluted. Reed realizes that the aliens have evolved to live inside the filth-ridden ship, but the ones in suspended animation are still primed for conditions on the new world. The commander refuses this explanation, saying, “We do not evolve.”

The commander launches engines. Reed tries to stop him, and a fight breaks out. The aliens duke it out with the FF for a few pages, when number one reveals to the commander a terrible truth. The FF fight their way into the commander’s chamber, to find him dead of suicide. Number one says that when the ship’s computer was damaged, everyone in suspended animation also died. This was kept secret from the surviving crew, so they’d have something to hope for. The FF agree to keep the secret. They part ways with the aliens. We’re told the aliens will continue on their hopeless quest… forever.

Unstable molecule: Reed has invented special nutrition pills for the FF to eat during their journey, which keep them sustained but have no taste.

Fade out: Sue uses her powers in multiple ways during the fight, tricking them with invisibility and stunning them with force fields.

Clobberin’ time: Ben starts eating the alien food before Reed gives him the okay. Perhaps Ben has a super-strong stomach.

Flame on: Julie’s roommate Sharon thinks to herself that she wouldn’t mind having Johnny visit again, so Johnny’s new romance is now officially a love triangle.

Commercial break: Yum.

Trivia time: This issue was on TV! On a February 1983 episode of The A-Team titled “A Small and Deadly War,” the character Howlin’ Mad Murdock can clearly be seen reading this comic.

Fantastic or frightful? Another old fashioned sci-fi short story, this one heavily reminiscent of early Star Trek. It’s odd that Reed just lets the aliens go at the end instead of continue trying to help them, but along the way there’s a lot of fun human/alien interaction and more jaw-droppingly gorgeous art from John Byrne.

Next week: Intellect and romance triumphs over brute force and cynicism.

****

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. Writer-artist John Byrne’s run on the title is often described as experimental, and this issue is a big reason for that. The entire issue is drawn “calendar style,” meaning you have to turn the comic on the side to read it. Because this is our heroes’ first adventure in their multi-issue Negative Zone exploration, the sideways thing speaks to this being in another universe now.

We begin on a planet in the Negative Zone where an alien woman, Taiya, is an outcast among her primitive tribe. The chief’s son, Tannar, wants to marry Taiya, but she says she can’t because she’s only fit as “a bride of Ootah.” A strange object falls from the sky and crash lands nearby, so Tannar and the rest of the tribespeople investigate. It’s the Fantastic Four, landing on the planet in their exploratory module.

The FF starts setting up their science equipment when Reed is struck by a poison dart. There’s a brief fight with the natives, who are no match for the FF’s superpowers. The fight is interrupted by Mama Shonti, the tribe’s shaman-like figure. (We never meet the aforementioned chief.) Reed is in a temporary coma due to the poison, and Mama Shonti gives us the backstory. The people once lived in a gleaming, futuristic city called Ootah, so huge it covered half the planet. Ootah was so scientifically advanced that it had a living brain controlling the entire place. Then, one night, a strange fear overcame the populace, driving all the people out of Ootah and into the wilderness, where the devolved into semi-primitives.

We then cut back to Earth, where Annihilus has escaped from the Negative Zone and is running around inside the Baxter Building. He confronts Franklin and discovers that Franklin no longer has reality-bending mutant powers. Annihilus throws Franklin against a wall (!) and then takes him to Alicia, who is out cold and hanging upside down from the ceiling. We’re left to wonder what Annihilus is up to, only that it’s no good.

Back in the Negative Zone, Taiya is bathed and dressed up to be sacrificed to Ootah. As Johnny and Ben watch, Taiya approaches an entrance to the giant walled city. A laser gun emerges from inside, about to shoot her. Johnny rescues her, but the natives insist that she must be sacrificed. Ben responds by throwing a rock at the entrance, shocking everyone as it is “sacrificed” by the laser. Then there’s some fighting as Ben throws more rocks at the city and Johnny burns its outer walls.

Reed comes out of the coma, while Sue, Ben, and Johnny enter Ootah and find the living brain. Ben destroys the brain, thinking that will stop the attacks on the natives. Reed arrives and says that Ootah was actually alive, a gigantic organism that expelled the natives like a life form expels germs. Ootah is now dead, with the natives tearing it apart like maggots in a corpse, and Reed sadly states that the FF have learned a valuable lesson, that nothing in the Negative Zone is as it appears.

Unstable molecule: The caption tells us that Reed overcoming the poison is “the hardest battle of his career.”

Fade out: During the fight, Sue plays defense, invisibly protecting the unconscious Reed while her other two teammates battle the natives.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is the voice of reason in this one, poking holes in the natives’ superstitions with his common sense. Strange, then, that he’s the one to kill Ootah without considering the consequences.

Flame on: Johnny describes the exploratory module as comfortable, but is the first one out of it to stretch his legs.

Four and a half: Franklin’s parents have taught him all about who Annihilus is, as he recognizes the villain on the spot, and knows how dangerous he is. Annihilus says he can’t use Franklin’s powers for his own gain, adding that it does not matter.

Commercial break: The cover advertises, “Free Lakeside Skin Tattooz.” Here they are, except that they aren’t rub-on tattoos, just the same ink-on-paper as the rest of the comic:

Trivia time: The internet is trying very hard to convince me that Byrne drew this entire issue directly with ink, instead of penciling it first. I cannot find any valid sources confirming this, and it certainly doesn’t look like it to my eyes.

Fantastic or frightful? Like all the stories in the Negative Zone arc, this one is a nice retro throwback to classic late ‘50s/early ‘60s sci-fi, with a little Star Trek and Dr. Who for flavor. It’s bothersome how our heroes are relatively casual about killing Ootah and more or less dooming the primitives. But, the great visuals and novelty of this being a sideways issue make this one a standout.

Next week: Frogs… in… space!

****

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. We’re at issue #251, in which writer-artist John Byrne kicks off one of the longest story arcs during his run on the book. I hope you like the Negative Zone, because we’re going to be there for a while.

We begin with Reed and Ben looking into a massive tube that extends for one mile inside the Baxter Building. Scratch that, only one meter exists inside the building, the rest of it exists inside the Negative Zone. This is Reed’s new Negative Zone portal, allowing easier access to and from the other universe. Reed says the FF cannot turn their backs on the limitless wonder and potential of the Negative Zone, while Ben argues that the N.Z. is the source of baddies such as Blastaar, Stygorr, and, most of all, Annihilus.

From there, we catch up on a lot of “daily life” stuff for our heroes. Remembering that Reed bought the Baxter Building after the recent fight with Galactus, he and Sue attend and tenants’ meeting. They field complaints about broken elevators, stuck windows, and more. (I thought the lower floors of the building were businesses, since this is Manhattan, but this would have us believe people are living there.) Ben doesn’t want anything to with that, so he takes the Fantasticar for a flight over New York. He helps some cops sort out city gridlock by picking up cars and carrying them around.

Johnny is also flying around New York, before joining his latest love interest Julie Angel. He attends an acting class with Julie and her roommate Sharon Shelleck. There’s a lot of soap opera stuff here, as Julie is also interested in her acting teacher Rolf Brandis and hunky classmate Grey Landers. Sharon, meanwhile, shows much hormonal interest in Johnny. Cutting back to Ben, he’s hanging out with Alicia. He again worries that she doesn’t love him because he’s a monster, and she assures him that she loves him because of his kind, beautiful soul. At the Baxter Building, Sue playfully sneaks up on Franklin while invisible, only to scare him. Sue considers how, now that Franklin no longer has his powers, the Baxter Building is no longer a good place to raise him.

Reed herds the tenants out of the meeting and returns to his lab. There, he tinkers with his new spacecraft, the Negative Zone Exploratory Module Mark I. The others join him next morning when it’s time for the big trip into the Negative Zone. Alicia is there to babysit Franklin and reopen the new portal when it’s time for the FF to return. Reed says the portal contains a time distortion, so that their trip will only be a few hours or even minutes for Alicia’s perspective. Franklin says goodbye to his parents and Alicia says goodbye to Ben. Johnny, all alone, had invited to Julie to be there, but there was no answer at her place that morning. The FF climb aboard the module, with much description about how it works. The ship launches, travels through the portal and into the psychedelic distortion area, and from there into… the Negative Zone!

Two hours later, Alicia, while alone with Franklin, gets the signal that the FF have returned. She returns to the lab, only to discover that Annihilus, not the FF, has come through the Negative Zone portal. He says the Fantastic Four are gone forever and now begins his reign.

Unstable molecule: Reed says he will have his lawyers deal with the tenants. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen these lawyers.

Fade out: Sue says that Franklin was always able to see her when she was invisible, up until recently.

Clobberin’ time: Ben reminds Reed (and the readers) that he has an equal 25 percent ownership of Fantastic Four Inc. He later wonders how the Avengers deal with their finances.

Flame on: Johnny flames off into his regular street clothes instead of his FF uniform, so those clothes are made of unstable molecules as well. Johnny hasn’t shown much interest in acting before this, so I think we can surmise that he’s there more for Julie than for any love of theater.

Four and a half: Franklin can be seen playing Star Fox on the Atari 2600.

Commercial break: Ooohh, yeah:

Trivia time: This is allegedly the first mainstream comic to call a character “gay” in reference to homosexuality, when Julie says actor Grey Landers is “probably gay.”

Fantastic or frightful? I imagine this issue divides people. It’s all character-based stuff with no superhero action. It’s also all set-up for the next eight issues or so. The biggest complaint is that they’re going on this big Negative Zone adventure for no reason other than because they can. Still, there’s a lot to enjoy here, and it does make you excited for what’s to come.

Next week: A new perspective.

****

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. This is the big 250th anniversary issue, so here come the X-Men (sort of). At the time, writer-artist John Byrne was most well-known for his work on Uncanny X-Men with writer Chris Claremont, so his drawing the characters again in Fantastic Four was a big deal.

To recap: Gladiator, the number one badass of the alien Shi’ar empire, attacked the FF believing they were Skrulls on the warpath against the Shi’ar. Seeming unstoppable, Gladiator wiped the floor with the FF, only to come face-to-face with four of the X-Men: Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler. Instead of picking up where we left off, the comic begins with neither the X-Men nor the FF but with Spider-Man, swinging around New York like he does. He finds Reed stretched out of shape over some rooftops. Reed wakens and reconstitutes himself while recapping the previous issue. Spider-Man takes Reed back to the Baxter Building, recreating Spidey’s first appearance on the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 along the way:

We finally catch up with the X-Men, who threaten Gladiator in Gladiator’s language. Storm and Cyclops attack. Gladiator says he and the X-Men were allies the last time he saw them, and he can’t figure out why they’re after him. Elsewhere, Johnny wakes up in the city streets and finds Ben unconscious. Johnny revives Ben by generating heat without flame. We then cut back to Spider-Man and Reed arriving at the Baxter Building, where Sue explains that Gladiator’s powers against her felt more like a psychic attack than a physical one. Reed says he’s figured out what’s going on. He rushes off the lab while Spider-Man pals around with Franklin a little before heading back out into the city.

As if there weren’t already a ton of characters in this one, we next go to Steve Rogers and Bernie Rosenthal, his girlfriend. Steve sees a ruckus outside, so he ducks out of the lunch date and dons his Captain America uniform, complete with indestructible shield. We rejoin the fight, where Gladiator shows his strength to be greater than Colossus. Storm uses her lightning to “shape the solar winds and from them select radiations of specific wavelengths.” OK… This works, though, striking Gladiator with great pain.

Gladiator goes after Nightcrawler next, only for Spider-Man to swing in and save him at the last second. Nightcrawler, however, flips out and punches Spider-Man, knocking him out. Even more strange, Nightcrawler bares his fangs and goes in to bite Spidey! Captain America steps in, fighting both Nightcrawler and Colossus. Ben wakes up, and he Johnny next rejoin the battle, so now everybody is fighting everybody. Back in Reed’s lab, he and Sue discuss how Gladiator’s power must come from something other than raw strength, and Reed starts working on a device to combat him.

The X-Men’s behavior just keeps getting stranger, as Nightcrawler disappears and fellow X-Man Angel shows up seconds later. He also somehow has Storm’s lightning powers, and he and Storm zap Gladiator with more super-powerful lightning. Angel then fights Johnny, with more superhuman strength than he’s ever had. Cyclops hits Ben with an optic blast, and Ben realizes that the blast burned him. This is odd, because Cyke’s optic blasts are not heat rays. Then we get the big reveal. Cyclops gets impaled on a piece of sharp metal, and reverts back to his original form — he and the X-Men really shape-changing Skrulls!

Reed confronts Gladiator. Gladiator attacks, but this time none of his powers work against Reed. Reed just stands there as Gladiator punches and zaps him, with no effect. As Gladiator experiences a moment of hesitation, he’s knocked out by one of Sue’s force fields. Turns out “Reed” in this scene was really Captain America, made to look like Reed thanks to Reed’s high-tech thought-projector. Gladiator’s attacks were secretly hitting Cap’s shield. Turns out Gladiator’s powers are psychic-based, and giving him self-doubt was all it took to defeat him.

There are still Skrulls to deal with. Ben says that he can really cut loose with his strength knowing it’s a Skrull and not an X-Man, so he beats the crap out of Skrull-Colossus. Johnny deduces that Skrull-Storm and Skrull-Angel are flying by artificial means and therefore don’t have his maneuverability. He makes a 90-degree turn that they can’t, forcing them to crash into a building. Gladiator makes peace with the heroes, taking the unconscious Skrulls with him as he leaves the Earth. All that’s left is for Ben to look around the wreckage and quip, “Who’s gonna pay ta fix all this?”

As long as we’re talkin’ X-Men, we have to discuss Uncanny X-Men #167, which took place right after this issue. After the X-Men return from space, Empress Lilandra of the Shi’ar projects a hologram of herself into Reed and Sue’s bedroom in the middle of the night.  She says Reed should not have saved Galactus’ life back in issue #244. Lilandra says that if Galactus ever kills anyone again, she’ll hold Reed personally responsible. Although this scene doesn’t happen in a Fantastic Four comic, it sets up a huge plotline that’ll pay off later on. (It also began a very ugly behind-the-scenes feud at Marvel, but we’ll get to that in time.)

Unstable molecule: Reed’s thought projector device first appeared way back in issue #27, and again in issue #126. It also appeared in one of Johnny’s solo adventures, Strange Tales #126 (same issue number as the FF appearance? What are the odds?) where it was used to help defeat the Puppet Master.

Fade out: A letter writer in this issue says she was working on creating astrological charts for her favorite comic book characters. She insists that Sue is a Cancer with Libra rising, based on Sue’s dual priorities of motherhood and mastery of her super-powers. In response, the editor praises the letter-writer for her accuracy.

Clobberin’ time: The Thing says he’s been on the receiving end of Cyclops’ eye beams before, but I’ve yet to find a specific instance where that happened. If anyone knows, leave a comment etc.

Flame on: Johnny’s never-before-seen ability to generate heat without fire was a minor controversy among fans, wondering how that’s possible. It’s not a power he’ll use often, though Johnny has, historically, not been cold when visiting cold environments.

Four and a half: Franklin calls Spider-Man “Spidey-Man,” after having seen the Spider-Man segments on The Electric Company, which existed in the Marvel Universe just like they did in our world. (In the MU, Spidey gave PBS special permission to use his likeness.)

Commercial break: Strange but true, comic book companies used to play each other in softball during the early ‘80s. Here, Marvel celebrates its win over Warren Publishing by bouncing a ball off of Vampirella’s butt:

Trivia time: Bernie Rosenthal had just recently discovered Captain America’s secret identity, which is referenced in their lunch date in this issue. She was his girlfriend for quite some time, sharing in a number of his adventures. The name Bernie is short for Bernadette.

Fantastic or Frightful? This is an action-packed issue, full of fighting and craziness. Despite the double-size length, the story moves right along, thanks to having so many characters at once. Some might not like that these aren’t really the X-Men, or that it’s the X-Men without Wolverine (unthinkable!) but what really matters is that it’s a grand old slugfest in the classic Marvel style.

Next week: Zone troopers.

****

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