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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. As much as I love the work of writer-artist John Byrne, I must admit issue #245 is something of a head-scratching puzzler.

We begin with several pages of Sue being interviewed on television by “Barbara Walker.” Walker gives Sue a lot of crap for not being feminist enough, but Sue won’t have it, standing up for herself and even using her force fields to throw Walker around the room. During the interview, the FF’s emergency flare goes off over the city, but the producers don’t interrupt the taping. Sue returns to the Baxter Building to find all the lights out.

Sue makes her way into the building, which is still under repairs from Terrax’s attack in the previous story arc, and finds Reed and Ben knocked out cold. Johnny is fighting a man who has blonde hair and beard. The man cannot be hurt by Johnny’s flame, and throws Johnny through a wall. He then can sense Sue watching them while she’s invisible. The man pursues Sue around the building, able to psychically press against her force fields. Sue finds the destroyed remains of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot and wonders where Franklin is. Sue confuses the mystery man by turning his hand invisible, allowing her to slip by him.

Back at the TV studio, Walker and her team learn that strange things are happening at the Baxter Building, so they rush to the scene in hopes of catching Sue in the act of being subservient to her male teammates. The fight goes out into the street outside, where the mystery man calms down and says he knows Sue from somewhere. Sue looks into the man’s eyes and recognizes him — he’s an adult Franklin!

Reed, Johnny, and Ben are back, now joined by Alicia. Franklin is disoriented, and Reed worries that accelerated aging might be killing him. Franklin agrees to go with Reed, but wants to do something first. He offers to make Ben human again, but Ben refuses, saying that he doesn’t trust a five-year-old to attempt that. Franklin looks into Ben’s mind and sees something that alarms him. One look at Reed, and he can tell Reed knows it too. Franklin then transforms Ben from his current retro lumpy form back to his more modern rocky form.

Reed wraps things up with a pair of long-winded explanations. First, Franklin has psychic dampers in his brain regulating his power. He used all of his powers transforming Ben, and now they won’t return until he grows into them. (I think we’re supposed to learn that’s why he turned into an adult in this one.) Second, he says Ben has a mental block that prevents him from turning human again, fearing that Alicia won’t love him if he’s not a monster. With that, the issue just ends.

Unstable molecule: Reed insists on taking Franklin back to headquarters for a detailed analysis of his transformation, but then just deduces what’s going on without any such analysis.

Fade out: Sue creates a soft, cushion-like force field for her to land on when she’s thrown from the building, another new use for her powers. During the interview, she makes a good case for how a woman who’s married and a mother can still kick ass.

Clobberin’ time: After being promised “This time it’s permanent,” in issue #238, here’s Ben’s transformation being undone a mere seven issues later.

Flame on: Johnny survives getting thrown through a wall, which seems impressive until we remember that the Baxter Building is outfitted with those lightweight adjustable walls that can reshape any floor into any layout.

Four and a half: So Franklin’s mutant powers return, giving him an adult body, increased intellect, and the ability to bend all reality to his will. Then, just like that, the powers are gone and he’s an ordinary kid again. When his powers next reemerge, they’ll be completely different.

Commercial break: Everyone should finish high school!

Trivia time: Look closely — one of the TV crewmembers is Sharon Selleck, who we’ll meet properly in a few issues and who will go on to be a kinda/sorta love interest for Johnny.

Fantastic or frightful? Here we have a solo story for Sue, but it’s not really about her. It’s all about Ben and his inner fears, except that this is only addressed in the last two pages. Shouldn’t the whole issue have been focused on that? Turning innocent little Franklin into an unstoppable godlike monster should have been terrifying, but it’s done and undone so fast. On the plus side, it’s awesome to see Sue stand up for herself and fight on her own, and the artwork continues to be top notch.

Next week: All Doom, all the time.

****

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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Writer-artist John Byrne’s three-part Galactus epic concludes with a permanent change to one of the supporting characters.

This one begins with Frankie Raye’s roommate Julie Angel, working out in her apartment while wearing shockingly slutty workout gear. This outfit is so revealing, she might as well be in the buff.  A caption tells us that a week has passed since the fight with Galactus last issue. There’s a knock at the door. It’s Johnny, who says Frankie is gone. He then collapses from exhaustion right in front of her. Julie does what she can to nurse Johnny back to health, and Reed and Sue show up. Reed tells her what happened.

We then flash back to the end of the last issue, where the FF and various other Marvel heroes gathered around a weakened, comatose Galactus. Reed says Galactus is dying and they must save him. Iron Man argues against this, saying they’ll end up back where they started, while Captain America, Reed, and Thor agree that they can’t just sit by and let a living being die. Reed remembers that Terrax said something about Galactus living off of artificial energies inside his ship, and he forms a plan.

Reed sends Iron Man off to acquire some tech from Tony Stark, not knowing (or not letting on that he knows) that Tony is Iron Man. Only one hour later (!) Reed has constructed a giant machine around the still-unconscious Galactus. Thor powers the device with lightning from his hammer, and Galactus is revived.

Galactus asks why Reed saved him, and Reed promises an “acceptable end” to their conflict. He leads Galactus back to the Baxter Building, where he promises to find uninhabited planets that Galactus can feed from. This could satisfy Galactus’ hunger without killing anyone. Galactus reads Reed’s mind and deduces that the planets are too far away, and he must devour the Earth now. That’s when Frankie Raye steps in, saying she can help.

Frankie volunteers to be Galactus’ new herald, finding planets for him. Reed says it’ll only be a matter of time before she leads him to an inhabited planet, and she argues that “a few less bug-eyed monsters” are nothing compared to life among the stars. Galactus says he doesn’t normally choose heralds with noble purposes, but sees something in Frankie. Despite Reed and Johnny’s protests, Galactus imbues Frankie with the Power Cosmic, transforming her into a new, golden form.

Saying she’s now free, Frankie flies away, up into the sky and out into space — something she tried and failed to do back in issue #238.  Johnny tries to follow, but his flame burns out in the upper atmosphere and he falls back to Earth. At the Baxter Building, Galactus thanks Reed. He swears never to come after the Earth again, and he even calls Reed a friend. He disappears, and the FF take off in search of Johnny. That brings us back to Julie’s apartment. Johnny mopes, saying every woman he’s ever loved gets taken from him. Julie says she’s there for him if he ever needs a shoulder to cry on.

The issue ends with one prologue (spelled “prolog”) in which Reed and Tony Stark are overseeing rebuilding the Baxter Building.  Collins, the obnoxious landlord, start’s raising a fuss, and Reed shuts him up by handing him a check. “I just bought the Baxter Building,” Reed says. The second prologue has Franklin left alone with a Rubik’s Cube (it’s the ‘80s!) while being babysat. He uses his reemerging powers to solve the cube. He uses them again to make H.E.R.B.I.E.’s head explode. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed states he sold the Baxter Building to Collins way back in issue #9, during the bankruptcy story. He further explains he wrote in an option to buy the building back as part of that agreement.

Fade out: In the ending segments, Sue takes off because she’s being interviewed on TV by “Barbara Walker.”

Clobberin’ time: Ben has no problem tearing up more of the Baxter Building so Reed and Galactus can speak, figuring that a little bit more damage won’t matter.

Flame on: Johnny accidentally burns Reed when he takes off after Frankie, but Reed isn’t hurt. We’re given a reminder that the FF uniforms are fireproof, just in case something like this happens.

Fantastic fifth wheel: This ends Frankie Raye’s run as an alternate member of the team. Although this is where she transforms into Nova, she’s not actually called Nova in this issue.

Four and a half: The ending makes no attempt to be subtle about Franklin’s powers returning, setting up the next issue. Franklin has a Muppets poster on his bedroom wall.

Commercial break: Read the fine print, kids. You’re not getting a go-kart when you send away for this, just the plans and instructions.

Trivia time: Frankie/Nova will go on to be Galactus’ herald from this point (1982), to the mid-nineties. After the Silver Surfer, she’s the most well-known herald of Galactus. She eventually becomes a main character in the ‘90s Silver Surfer comic, romances Firelord, and briefly joins the Fearless Defenders. Before that, we’ll be encountering her a few more times during John Byrne’s run.

Fantastic or frightful? If you’ve been following this blog regularly, you can probably tell I’m a big fan of Frankie Raye. On this re-read, it’s interesting to see how her transformation in this issue has been foreshadowed consistently ever since Byrne took over the book. Similarly, this issue seems to exist only to set up future storylines, but there are some nice character moments and the art really shines.

Next week: Hey, Rocky!

****

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. Enough talk about the new movie, let’s get back to COMICS! Issue #242 gives us one of the all-time great Galactus battles.

When we last left our heroes, Galactus’ former herald Terrax had attacked, destroying the top two floors of the Baxter Building and lifting all of Manhattan into space. He gave the FF an ultimatum, saying he’ll destroy Manhattan unless the FF kills Galactus for him. Sue and Frankie Raye are atop the ruined Baxter Building to recap this, while Sue uses her powers to make Terrax’s energy field around the city visible. Frankie grows fascinated with Galactus. Elsewhere, at Avengers Mansion, Captain America and the Wasp are late to the party, wondering why the mansion is on emergency power and what’s happened to the sky.

In space, Ben wants to fight Terrax but Reed talks him out of it, saying Terrax has the upper hand so they’ve got to play his game for now. Galactus’ ship is nearby. He is weakened from not having devoured any planets in a while, and draws upon energy in his ship to keep him going. Now inside the ship, Reed recaps the plot again, and reminds Ben (and the reader) that Galactus fought alongside the FF against the Sphinx in issue #212. He hopes to convince Galactus to join them in stopping Terrax. Terrax guesses this is what’s happening, so he attacks. Galactus unleashes the “white light of creation,” zapping Terrax and restoring Manhattan back where it belongs.

At HQ, Sue collapses from exhaustion. Frankie knows she should watch over Sue, but is instead so overcome with thoughts of Galactus that she goes inside to look him up. Atop the World Trade Center (sigh…) Terrax believes he’s more powerful than Galactus and tries to fight him. Galactus proves him wrong by taking back the power cosmic and turning Terrax back into his original self, Tyros. Tyros gets thrown into a NYC trash pile. With that done, Galactus decides that his hunger is too great, and he must feed. He seals the FF up in force fields, and then recreates his world-devouring machine from dust particles in the air around him. Just when it looks like he’s about to pull the trigger and destroy the Earth, he’s struck by a giant bolt of lightning.

It’s Thor, who blasts Galactus with a classic “I say thee nay!” He’s on scene with three other Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man and Wasp. Begin fighting! The Avengers knock Galactus down to street level, using their powers against him in various ways. Dr. Strange shows up, and creates hallucinations that prey on Galactus’ fears.

Spider-Man and Daredevil are here as well, but merely watching from the sidelines, letting the “big guys” handle the big cosmic threat. Finally, Reed stretches himself into a slingshot shape and shoots Ben at Galactus. Ben his Galactus right in the face (!) and Galactus falls, defeated.

The heroes gather around the comatose Galactus. Reed says Galactus is on the verge of death. Despite the whole trying-to-devour-the-Earth thing, Galactus is still a living being, so Reed announces, “We have to save Galactus!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed spends most of this issue trying to convince everyone not to fight Galactus. This is foreshadowing an even bigger cosmic storyline coming up.

Fade out: While pushing her powers to their limit, Sue is still able to tell Frankie (and first-time readers) all about who Galactus is.

Clobberin’ time: Ben says he’s glad to be out of his spacesuit, because he thinks it’s constrictive and limits his movements. Make of that detail what you will.

Flame on: Johnny is actually in favor of just letting Galactus die, but Reed won’t have it. Johnny is also the one who manages to locate Galactus when he and his teammates are lost inside Galactus’ ship.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie’s weird obsession with Galactus will pay off next issue. The letters page in this one answers the question of what code name to give her. Although some fans call her “She-Torch” during this era, the letters page confirms that name is not official. Instead, it says, the female Human Torch is simply named… the Human Torch.

Commercial break: This is just a balloon, right?

Trivia time: Right before this issue, Galactus had just been to Earth two times, only to be driven back to space by Rom the Spaceknight in Rom #27 and, of all people, Dazzler in Dazzler #11.

Fantastic or frightful? Having all these Marvel heroes in one issue means our main FF characters are on the sidelines for most of the story. Nonetheless, this is great fun. With Galactus in a weakened state, the superheroes are finally able to kick the crap out of him in a big way. This one’s a big action blockbuster, and I love it.

Next: Heralds and heart machines.

****

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

Fantastic Four 2015. I’ve seen the new movie.

The whole reason I started re-reading the comic on the blog was because of how disappointed I was in the two Tim Story FF movies of the 2000s. Now there’s a new movie, a total reboot. So… what did I think? I liked half of the movie and was disappointed with the other half.

The movie is loosely based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, an alternate version of the FF with them recast as a group of genius teens. This, plus the trailers, clued me in that the movie wouldn’t be epic Jack Kirby action I want to see in an FF movie. Still, I went in with an open mind, telling myself that this would be a brand new version of the characters. In this version, our heroes get their powers from interdimensional travel instead of space travel. The newly-discovered other dimension serves as the MacGuffin for the FF and Dr. Doom to fight over.

The movie really drew me in during its opening scenes, when we meet the young versions of Reed and Ben, with the first few scenes being a surprisingly delightful remake of Joe Dante’s Explorers. From there, we go into a loose adaptation of Ultimate Fantastic Four, with Reed arriving at the Baxter Building. All this “teen inventor” stuff in the movie has a real Spielbergian feel, and it’s here when the movie is at its best. We’re introduced to Sue and Johnny, and their father Frankin becomes a mentor to the group. These scenes have a loose, relaxed feel, and the characters come across as real people.

Once we get into interdimensional travel, things become muddled. The first trip into the other dimension is a good action scene, but when we’re back on Earth, the movie loses its focus. See, even though this is a story about a team, the movie wisely kept the focus on Reed during its first half, setting him up as the main character. I’m totally in favor of this, as I’ve always felt Reed’s name should be among the great adventurers, like Indiana Jones or James Bond. Once the FF get their powers in the movie, however, the movie can’t decide who the protagonist is. The script hops around from character to character, giving time to each but never bringing them together in a satisfying way.

After getting their powers, the FF are taken away to a secret government lab. There’s a short stretch of movie where Reed escapes, and we get a “one year later” title card. Sue, Ben, and the government goons find Reed and bring him back. Then… everything continues on as if he’d never left. His being a fugitive for a year just comes and goes without any consequence. It’s frustrating to have this in the middle of the movie only for it to go nowhere.

How’s the action? Decent, but short. The creators are going for more of a character-based movie rather than nonstop blockbuster action. There is very little of the characters using their powers, and even less of them using their powers as a group. One of the reasons we’re all excited to have live-action movie versions of comic books is to see the powers come to life on screen, and to see how filmmakers use the powers creatively. They’ve done this nicely with Spider-Man and even Captain America, but it’s a downer to walk out of a Fantastic Four movie thinking, “I wish they would’ve used their powers more.”

Miles Teller gives the best performance in the movie. As Reed, he takes a character that a lot of people think is boring and instead gives him some real humanity. Kate Mara is good as Sue. Because we’re in Ultimate-land, Sue in this version is just as science-smart as Reed, and Mara does a great job portraying those smarts. Michael B. Jordan isn’t given much to do as Johnny, establishing him with a rebellious nature but never going anywhere with it. Jamie Bell has even less to do as Ben, to the point where Ben is more of a special effect than a character.

Now the really bad news: Just like the Tim Story versions, this movie gets Dr. Doom completely wrong. They have Doom get involved with the interdimensional travel, giving him powers at the same time the FF got their powers. Instead of fighting our heroes with his own mad genius and arcane knowledge, Doom merely throws stuff around telekinetically. He starts with a few lines of eco-friendly dialogue, which I guess are meant to make us sympathize with him, but then he becomes generic movie monster in the second half of the movie. He only exists to throw things at the heroes and give them something to fight, and not to have any personality or ideology of his own. Actor Toby Kebbell does some interesting things as Doom, often making a point of not looking the other actors in the eye, but, again, he’s not given enough to do.

The real antagonist of the movie is not Doom, but the military man played by Tim Blake Nelson. He’s stuck in the position of wanting to weaponize the FF’s powers for U.S. military. Didn’t we just do this in Jurassic World? Nelson is trying, but this is the jerk-who’s-in-the-movie-just-to-be-a-jerk, something that no movie needs.

What movie’s producers want to know is, would I see a sequel with this same cast and director? Yes, I would. They’ve laid a groundwork, and the room for improvement is huge. The next movie could be the Dark Knight to this movie’s Batman Begins. As of this writing, there’s no way to know if that’ll happen, or if we’re in for yet another reboot. Either way, Fantastic Four 2015 is flawed, but a slight step back in the right direction.

Next week: Galactus ruckus.

****

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. After all those stand-alone stories, writer-artist John Byrne’s run on the title really takes off with a huge cosmic epic. It begins right here in issue #242, so buckle up.

We begin with Terrax, who you’ll remember as Galactus’ new herald from all that confusing business with the Sphinx and Nova back in issues #208-212. Terrax is flying straight toward Earth, and the caption tells us that he is no longer a herald.

From there, half of this issue is all character-based stuff. It’s Christmas in New York, and Reed and Sue are putting up the tree, only for Reed to reveal that it’s an artificial tree. (Futuristic!) Then little Franklin makes one of his toys fly across the room, except that it (Buzz Lightyear reference) is not a flying toy. Ben is walking alone in snowy Central Park where he’s attacked by muggers (!) and rolls them up into a big snowball, like you do. Johnny and Frankie visit Frankie’s friend Julie Angel, who is rehearsing for a play. The daily life stuff is then interrupted when a strange grid-like phenomenon appears in the sky over New York.

Our heroes dutifully reconvene at the Baxter Building, where Reed says a “space warp” has materialized around the city. Then, unimaginably, the top two stories of the building are destroyed! It’s Terrax, and he goes nuts with his powers. He punches Ben downward several stories, and then he throws Reed and Johnny around. Ben returns to the fight and punches Terrax out of the building and through several other buildings. Terrax doesn’t really give a reason why he’s mad at the FF, he just is.

Terrax flies to the top of the World Trade Center (sigh) and goes even crazier with power. He surrounds Manhattan with energy waves, cutting off the bridges and tunnels. In Queens, this makes Peter Parker’s spider-sense go haywire. The same happens to Daredevil’s radar sense, almost making him fall off a rooftop. Also outside the city, Thor and Iron Man drop what they’re doing and investigate.

Terrax then lifts all of Manhattan off of the Earth’s surface and into space, where Galactus’ ship is waiting. The FF confront Terrax on the rooftop, where Terrax makes his demands. He says Galactus is in a weakened state, his powers almost at their lowest. He wants the FF to destroy Galactus. If they don’t, he will destroy Manhattan.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed is eco-friendly all of a sudden, not wanting to senselessly kill a tree just to celebrate Christmas.

Fade out: Sue demonstrates one of her rarely-used powers, to make visible anything that is invisible. She does this with Terrax’s energy field around Manhattan, pushing her power to the limit.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is melancholy because, he says, he’s still dwelling on living the good life in Liddleville, the artificial world where he was human again, from issue #236.

Flame on: While out for a stroll with Frankie, Johnny passes by the flophouse where he first met the Submariner, for a little continuity nod.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie is asked to stay behind when the guys confront Terrax. Only this time it’s to act as bodyguard for Sue, after exerting her power left her in a weakened state. There’s a little bit of foreshadowing when Frankie says she hasn’t had a superheroic opportunity to save the world yet.

H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot is still around, helping take care of Franklin. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Four and a half: I guess we’re meant to believe that Franklin used his powers to make his non-flying toy fly. Sue and Reed aren’t that concerned about this, even though Franklin’s powers once threatened to destroy the world and all that.

Commercial break: I love that the mom is knitting while on the roller coaster.

Trivia time: The play Julie is rehearsing contains lines and staging taken directly from Elfquest #3, by Wendy and Richard Pini. Richard later wrote a letter to Marvel expressing how flattered the Pinis were with the reference. Marvel would eventually reprint the original four volumes of Elfquest and John Byrne would go on to write and draw some Elfquest comics of his own. And, because we’re talking Elfquest, here is the required-by-nerd-law 1976 photo of Wendy Pini dressed as Red Sonja:

Fantastic or frightful? This is a fun issue that combines thoughtful character-building moments and far-out cosmic action — it’s everything what we want from a Fantastic Four adventure. I hope the makers of the new movie have read this one. Say, just when is that new movie going come out?

Next week: We interrupt our regular schedule to bring you…

****

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