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Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. In issue #240, writer-artist John Byrne ends the “getting his feet wet” phase, crafting a huge sci-fi tale that permanently changed the Marvel Universe.

The issue begins with Quicksilver zipping through the streets of New York with his super speed. He makes it inside the Baxter Building, where the FF see him in the dark. Assuming he’s an intruder, there’s a few pages of fighting. Johnny suspects it’s Quicksilver, so he prevents Frankie from burning the attacker. Reed manages to stop Quicksilver, and everyone calms down.

Quicksilver catches us up with everything that’s been going on with the Inhumans at their hidden city Attilan, in the Himalayas. First, Medusa was abducted (which happened back in issue #207, and has gone unresolved until now), then Attilan was attacked by the mad scientists of the Enclave. The Inhumans allied with the evil Maximus to stop the Enclave, only for all of Attilan to succumb to a mysterious illness. The illness also threatens Crystal and Quicksilver’s unborn child.

Quicksilver summons Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog (they have a giant teleporting dog), to transport everyone to Attilan. Reed insists that Frankie stay behind because she hasn’t completed her training. The FF and Quicksilver arrive in Attilan to find the city trashed and deserted. Medusa steps out of hiding. She explains that the Inhumans almost lost the fight against the Enclave, until Maximus sacrificed himself to save them all.

Underground, Black Bolt collapses after using all his energy to keep the remaining Inhumans safe. Reed deduces that the illness is caused by Earth pollution, the same malady that caused Crystal to dump Johnny and leave the team. Medusa says the entire city must be moved, reminding everyone that this was done once before (in a backstory in What If #30). Problem is, there is nowhere on Earth with air clean enough, which inspires Reed to look at the night sky and say, “Maybe there is a place.”

We get a lot of business with the Inhumans preparing to move. Karnak and Gorgon (who once single-handedly defeated the FF in battle, let’s not forget) create a fissure around the entire the city. The city’s power generators are converted to anti-grav machines. Black Bolt enters the caves beneath the city to round up the Inhumans’ servants the Alpha-Primitives. With that done, Black Bolt uses his super-voice to break the city free of the Earth’s surface. He leaves behind a Kree word carved in the rock, as a memorial to Attilan.

The city flies into space, passes a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite, and makes its way to the moon. There, the city arrives at the Blue Area, the remains of an alien city inside a crater, where there is breathable air. There’s an amusing bit where the Watcher comes out of his moon house to observe the city, remarking that he now has neighbors. The city comes down for a landing, settling on the surface, on the exact spot where Jean Grey died to save the universe in the landmark Uncanny X-Men #137. The Inhumans march out to check out their new home.

Then, the happy event. In the Inhumans’ hospital, Reed and an Inhuman doctor deliver Crystal’s baby. It’s a girl! Turns out that Crystal’s Inhuman genes and Quicksilver’s mutant genes cancelled each other out, so the baby is perfectly human. She’s the first child born on the moon.

Unstable molecule: Reed is a real problem solver in this issue, coming up with the idea to transport an entire city to space. We can add pediatrician to Reed’s skills.

Fade out: Sue tries to create a force field for Quicksilver to run into, but Reed stops her so she doesn’t harm him. Somehow, they have this entire conversation as Quicksilver blasts toward them at top speed.

Clobberin’ time: Ben calls upon his pilot/astronaut background to chart a course to the moon. The caption tells us “It’s been too long since he was called upon to use his mind rather than his muscle.”

Flame on: Johnny has mixed feelings upon learning that Crystal is pregnant, but then is happy for her at the end.

Four and a half: Ben begins the issue hiding Franklin’s Christmas presents, saying that it’s getting harder and harder hide stuff from the kid. He comments, “It’s almost like he knows what I’m thinking.”

Fantastic fifth wheel: When asked to stay behind, Frankie remarks that being a superhero isn’t what she thought it would be. She laments, “Where’s the pomp and circumstance? The cosmic grandeur?” Foreshadowing, much?

We’re meant to believe that Medusa was held captive by the Enclave between issue #207 and now, except that she showed up in The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel in between. Maybe she escaped the Enclave, and then visited Mar-Vell during the Enclave/Inhuman war. (And yes, it is kind of a bummer that we never actually see this war, but I suppose that’s because the Inhumans weren’t marquee stars at this time.)

H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot appears in one panel, still serving as Franklin’s nanny. Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.

Commercial break: Don’t play with your food, kids.

Trivia time: It’s rare to see a permanent change in comics, where the almighty reboot button is constantly being pressed. The Inhumans living on the moon, however, has since become an iconic Marvel Universe thing, so much so that when you think of the Inhumans, “They live on the moon” is one of the first things you think of.

Fantastic or frightful? This one is interesting, because there’s no villain to fight. Instead, it’s all about the heroes working together to solve a problem. John Byrne’s art is excellent, and the drawings of the city flying through space are real “sense of wonder” goodness.

Next week: Raiders of the something-or-other.

****

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. To recap: Frankie Raye has powers similar to Johnny’s, and she has joined the team. Ben has reverted back to his original, less rock-like form. Get all that? Good. Writer-artist John Byrne builds on this set-up with another sci-fi standalone tale in issue #239.

It’s winter in New York when a mysterious woman approaches the Baxter Building. She thinks, “I wonder if he ever thinks of me.” She’s greeted by rarely-seen doorman O’Hoolihan, who tells her the FF have a brand-new public reception area on the 30th floor. The woman takes the elevator up there, and his greeted by a receptionist who just says the same thing over and over. She’s the FF’s new robot receptionist (!) and Johnny is there trying to repair her. The mystery woman says she has urgent business with the Thing.

In the lab, Reed is distraught over not being able to turn Ben human again, as well as how Ben seemed almost relieved not to be human. In another part of the building, Ben lifts weights, explaining to Alicia and Frankie that he hasn’t lost any strength although his appearance has changed. The mystery woman enters the room and it’s revealed that she’s Ben’s oft-mentioned Aunt Petunia.

Despite all of Ben’s jokes over the years that his Aunt Petunia was an old lady, the real Aunt Petunia was a student nurse of Ben’s uncle who later married him. Then she gets to the point, saying that she’s traveled to NYC from Benson, Arizona, where there has been a strange epidemic. People all over town are dying of fright.

Cut to the FF and Petunia arriving in Benson. Ben is greeted by his Uncle Jacob, who he hasn’t seen in years. Reed inspects the bodies, and agrees that people are unexplainably dying of fright. Then, a woman named Ruth Efford shows up alongside a young girl, Wendy. Efford is an occult expert working with the local Native American tribe, and she thinks she found something at a nearby archeological dig that can help with the investigation. At the dig site, the girl Wendy is upset, talking about how all of her friends are there, and she tells Ben that she has “the most wonderful friends.”

There’s an interlude with a pair of college students in the desert outside of town, who get swallowed by ominous shadows. Then another interlude in Attilan, the city of the Inhumans, Crystal is pregnant and in pain. An Inhuman doctor tells her husband Quicksilver that this strange illness is affecting all the Inhumans. Quicksilver, because he’s a mutant and not an Inhuman, might be the one to save them all.

The next day back in Benson, the FF finds the bodies of the two students. Reed is perplexed, saying his scanners don’t show anything strange. Frankie agrees to fly little Wendy back to her home. Once there, Wendy’s scumbag father gets mad and hits her (!) and Frankie threatens to roast the creep. Wendy talks her out of it with what seems to be a pre-rehearsed speech, and Frankie leaves. That night, Wendy decides she’s had enough and runs away from home. Out in the desert, a strange mist surrounds her and creepy shadows lift her into the air.

In the town’s rinky-dink hotel, Ben is awoken by dark, goblin-like monsters. They also wake up Reed and Sue (who were apparently sleeping in their FF uniforms) and chase them through the building. Outside, the strange shadows are swirling around in the sky, causing damage. There’s some action as the heroes use their powers to put out fires.

The next morning, the entire town evacuates except for Petunia and a handful of others. Reed is down on himself again, feeling like he’s failed everyone. Wendy and her father are there. He’s about to beat her again, and Frankie threatens to burn him. Reed stops her, saying the FF shouldn’t “stand in judgment.”

Then Reed makes this big speech about judgment, and how everyone in town is being tested by some higher power. Whatever supernatural force this is, he says, “I pray they will find us… worthy!” Then the FF up and leave, waving goodbye to little Wendy. Wendy then walks through the desert and down into a cave, where the goblin monsters are there. She sits among them with a big smile on her face. The captions tells us, “These, too, are Wendy’s friends.” With that, the issue just ends.

Unstable molecule: Reed is at a real low point, blaming himself first for Ben’s transformation and then for not being able to help the townsfolk. His speech about worthiness and judgment would seem partially self-directed, then.

Fade out: Sue insists that Ben wear the full suit from way back in issue #3 so as not to scare the townsfolk, or else she’ll use her power to make him invisible the whole time. He says he doesn’t like it when she turns him invisible.

Clobberin’ time: Some family history for Ben. His parents died when he was teen, and he was raised by his Uncle Jake until he went off to college. At that point, Jake left New York for Arizona, where he married the much-younger Petunia.

 Flame on: Johnny is the one installing the new robot receptionist (named Roberta, of course) showing that he can put his mechanic skills to good use.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie is all about getting her heroism on, trying to save a little girl from an abusive situation.

It’s not specified why Crystal is suffering so much. Either it’s because of this mystery plague affecting the Inhumans, or it’s because her kid is half-Inhuman, half mutant. It’s probably both, but the comic doesn’t come out and say that.

Commercial break: Marvel’s then-EIC Jim Shooter published this photo of himself to promote his appearance at the 1982 San Diego ComicCon. He’s stylin’!

Trivia time: Petunia and her demonic friends were never seen again, which is too bad because this story could use a follow-up. That’d be perfect for a Runaways story. Aunt Petunia never appears again, but Ben’s Uncle Jake will come back for a cameo in issue #257.

A man with glasses and a mustache is seen checking out Petunia as she arrives in the Baxter Building. Anybody else think this is supposed to be Stan Lee?

Fantastic or frightful? Some fans dislike this issue because they feel making Aunt Petunia a beautiful young woman goes against what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby established, where Petunia was referred to as a batty old lady. I will give John Byrne the benefit of the doubt, however, as I feel he’s being more playfully subverting expectations rather than angrily trampling over the classics. Beyond that, the issue is another attempt at a Twilight Zone-style story complete with twist ending. It doesn’t quite work, and our heroes don’t save the day, but the artwork gives the whole thing a terrific horror movie vibe. That alone makes the issue worth it.

Next week: City on the go.

****

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. Issue #238 is made up of mostly character moments, so what do they do for the cover? Put Dr. Doom on the cover as a phony stunt, while also loudly announcing that it’s a phony stunt! It’s wacky!

When we last left Johnny, his new girlfriend Frankie Raye was peeling off her bathrobe right in front of him. To many young male readers’ chagrins, she’s not gettin’ nekkid. Instead, she’s wearing a superhero-y gold one-piece with matching gold boots and gloves. She says it’s like a second skin, and it turns invisible when she wears other clothes. Then we get into Frankie’s backstory. She has no memories of her life before age 14, when she woke in a warehouse after an explosion. She had a place to live, and started receiving $1,000 a week in the mail from a Thomas Raye, her father. She never investigated any of this, as some part of her mind just told her to accept this. Years later, when she met Johnny, Frankie was initially repulsed by his fire powers, but was then drawn to him.

Frankie gets overwhelmed with emotion, and flames burst from her body. She’s a female Human Torch! She says, “I remember!” and then bursts through her apartment ceiling and flies out over the city. Johnny pursues her, and gives her a quick flying lesson. She says she’s free and she now knows who she is.

More flashbacks: Thomas Raye was actually Frankie’s stepfather, raising her after her mother died when Frankie was just a baby. Thomas was an angry drunk, and didn’t like the Human Torch, claiming that the “real” Human Torch was dead. When Frankie was 14, Thomas took her to his warehouse, which was full of old chemical weapons he developed to fight Nazis back in the day. Some of the chemicals spilled onto Frankie, engulfing her in flame. This gave her fire powers. Thomas, overcome with grief about this, hypnotizes his daughter so she has a fear of fire, and left her with the special fireproof costume.

Back in the present, Johnny thinks (but doesn’t say out loud) that Thomas must have really been Dr. Horton, the scientist who created the WWII android Human Torch. Frankie tries to see how high she can fly, only for her flame to short out in the upper atmosphere, where’s there’s hardly any air to burn. Johnny catches her and helps her back down to New York. He takes Frankie to the Baxter Building, in the hopes that Reed can explain her powers further.

At the Baxter Building (which the caption describes as, “that august edifice”) Reed theorizes that the chemicals affected Frankie the same way the cosmic rays affected the FF. After running some tests, Reed says Frankie’s powers are basically the same as Johnny’s, except she can burn longer and control her flame with more precision, while he can fly faster and burn at greater temperatures. Reed then suggests Frankie join the team, jokingly (or not) saying they’re the Fantastic Five now. Then there’s a comedy bit where Ben walks in on Johnny and Frankie kissing.

From there, we cut to the town of Benson, Arizona (population 1,783 according to a sign in the background) where a man has died due to extreme cardiovascular distress — he was frightened to death! The doctor his wife/nurse (!) and a hick sheriff talk about how this has been happening all over town. The nurse, Penny, says the only ones who can help them are… the Fantastic Four. Turn the page, and John Byrne has treated us to a one-page pin-up of Sue, in a white blouse and red skirt instead of her FF uniform. What’s really interesting is the eclectic collection of books on Sue’s bookshelf in the background, which include Tom Wolfe, Ogden Nash, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions collection, and even Walt Kelly’s Pogo.

The issue’s only half over! There’s a whole second story. This one begins with Reed rebuilding H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot. (Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot.) The ‘bot has now been reprogrammed to act as Franklin’s new nanny, while also monitoring Franklin in case his mutant powers reemerge. Ben and Alicia show up, and Ben assumes H.E.R.B.I.E. is attacking them again, until Reed cools him down.

Then, Reed says he’s been hard at work on machine that can provide a new cure for Ben. Reed says that unlike all the previous failed attempts, this time he’s certain he can turn Ben into a human, permanently. Ben is wishy-washy, suspecting that Alicia loves him only as a monster. She assures him that isn’t so, but Sue, in her thoughts, suspects she sees a sense of loss in Alicia’s eyes. Ben hooks himself up to Reed’s machines, and it appears to work at first. Ben reverts back to a human. Only, it doesn’t work. The “power-interface circuit disrupters” short out, and the machine explodes. Ben emerges from the wrecked machine. He’s not human, but instead he’s reverted from his rock-like form back to his “lumpy” form, the way he looked back in the first few issues of FF. The caption tells us, “This time it is permanent!”

Unstable molecule: Thanks to “moveable wall panels,” Reed is able to work on secret projects without anyone, not even his wife, knowing what he’s doing. Kinda creepy. Also, he is again referred to as “Professor Richards.” Where is he teaching?

Fade out: In Reed’s lab, we’re told that Sue powers have grown. She can now turn herself and other objects invisible at the same time, so no more of the rarely-seen “she can’t turn invisible while making something invisible” limitation.

Clobberin’ time: Allegedly, one of John Byrne’s goals for the series was to go back to basics, and revisit the Lee/Kirby classics. We can see this in Ben reverting back to his original self.

Flame on: We get a detailed explanation on how Johnny is able to fly. He says he can fly with just a thought. But, while flying, he constantly has to judge wind currents and thermal pockets in the air around him, or else he will be blown off course.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie’s time an alternate member of the FF is shorter than a remembered. Starting here, she only gets a few issues as one of the team before her big transformation.

Despite being generally hated by both fans and comic professionals, H.E.R.B.I.E. is back. Does anyone else think his redesign makes him look a lot like Crow T. Robot?

Four and a half: Franklin gets along with the new H.E.R.B.I.E. right away, after H.E.R.B.I.E. makes funny faces and promises not to fight with Ben anymore.

Commercial break: This ad alleges that building a model truck is more fun than watching B.J. and the Bear. I’ve seen a few episodes, and I can say with certainty that anything is more fun than watching B.J. and the Bear.

Trivia time: In Marvel Two-In-One #50, also written and drawn by John Byrne, we get an explanation as to why Ben’s appearance has changed over the years, in that his body is gradually getting more used to the cosmic rays. His early, “lumpy” look is described as like dinosaur skin, instead of like rock. Despite all the claims that this change is permanent, he’ll be back to his rocky self in just a few issues.

Two weeks pass between the two stories in this issue. During that time, the FF guest starred in Avengers #216, when they tried to help the Avengers battle the Molecule Man, but couldn’t break through MM’s force field.

Fantastic or frightful? What a weird, baffling issue. Frankie’s backstory as a teenage amnesiac doesn’t hold up to any scrutiny. (How was her dad helping her by abandoning her? Did she go to school? Where was the money coming from? Etc.) The plot about Ben’s cure is a nice throwback to the Lee/Kirby days, but it’s kind of a bummer how it sweeps all the drama about his becoming human during the “middle years” under the rug. It makes the FF feel like they’re being written out of character. On the plus side, Byrne’s art is great, and Frankie and Johnny’s flight through New York really captures the exhilarating fantasy of flight.

Next week: Not Aunt Harriet.

****

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. Writer-artist John Bryne continues his run in issue #237 by establishing some subplots and throwing in some sci-fi wackiness.

The FF return to headquarters following the events of last issue. Johnny flies off to check in with his new girlfriend Frankie Raye, while the other three members of the team discuss what to do with Dr. Doom, who’s lying there on the roof in suspended animation. (Ben describes Doom as all of his circuits being shorted out.) Reed seals the comatose in a pitch-black stasis field, so powerful that not even photons of light can escape it.

Ben and Alicia have a heart-to-heart, as Ben is still smarting from being able to live a human life (sort of) in Liddleville last issue, and he pity-parties about being a monster. Ben works out using the high-tech weightlifting tech in the Baxter Building, and feels better. Reed checks on some unusual meteor activity in his lab, but Sue insists he leave and go out to dinner with her. To his credit, he actually does go with her this time.

Johnny arrives at Frankie’s apartment, and meets Frankie’s scantily-clad roommate, Julie Angel. Julie, an aspiring actress, leaves the two of them alone. Then Frankie greets Johnny. She’s still in her bathrobe, and in tears. She says she has to show Johnny something, but she’s afraid he’ll think she’s crazy. Johnny promises to help, so she shows him her secret by… peeling off her bathrobe right in front of him! (Wha-hey!) We don’t see what Johnny sees, but the caption tells us, “He knows!”

Cut to Reed and Sue horseback riding in Central Park (you can, what, just rent horses there?), only to have their nice afternoon out interrupted by an alarm. Reed follows the alarm to a nearby jewelry store, which is being robbed. He makes short work of the robbers, but then meets their leader, a nine-foot-tall alien woman named Spinnerette. She speaks in an alien language, which causes Reed to lose consciousness. Sue leaves Franklin in an alley (!) and tries to sneak up on Spinnerette. The alien woman can sense her, and knocks her out as well.

Franklin is upset, and energy crackles around him. This affects Spinnerette, knocking her over. The crooks carry her off, and the police arrive just as Reed and Sue awaken. The jewelry store owner says the crooks took what they wanted, but Spinnerette only showed interest in a strange necklace, made of an aluminum-lead alloy that can only be formed in zero gravity (?).

Another alarm goes off, courtesy of Spinnerette and her gang. Reed snatches one of the gang members. He explains that Spinnerette stole a solar cell from a calculator. He then further explains that he and the other guys were originally a bunch of bums, camping out in a junkyard (in Manhattan?) when they were approached by this alien woman. They were the only ones not knocked unconscious by her voice, and she was interested in a silver watch one of them had stolen. Upon hearing this, Reed says, “It all makes sense.”

Reed rushes back to the lab and picks up his universal translator, which we’re to believe he’s had for a long time now, and then back out into New York. They find Spinnerette surrounded by police. Sue traps Spinnerette inside a force field, thinning out the air inside it. This disorients her, and Reed deduces that Spinnerette is “sobering up.” Her real name is Solon Stabilizer, and the high oxygen content in Earth’s atmosphere made her drunk upon arrival on our planet. Reed and Sue take Solon to Long Island (!) where her ship is hidden. She needed the power source and the metal alloy to repair her ship.

Inside the ship, we meet Solon’s fellow aliens, which look just like her. Solon takes a moment to explain that they breed by cloning (TMI!) and that she uses her powers to prevent sickness among her crew in zero gravity. The aliens fly off for the E.T.-style happy ending. We won’t know what’s up with Johnny and Frankie until the next issue.

Unstable molecule: Apparently, Reed has used his universal translator anytime the team has met aliens, and we just haven’t seen it until now. Also, Reed says he plans to meet with the Latverian assembly to deal with Dr. Doom legally, instead of leaving him trapped in the lab.

Fade out: Sue’s getting Reed out of the lab to spend time with her has become less henpecky and more playful. She leaves her civilian clothes on during the fight instead of changing to her FF uniform.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s weightlifting gizmo is an isometric exerciser, that uses an adamantium rod combined with magnetics to use his own muscle power against him. Sounds legit.

Flame on: On the way to Frankie’s place, Johnny self-reflects, wondering if he has taken his past girlfriends for granted, and whether he is ready for a more serious relationship.

Four and a half: Franklin’s powers re-manifest in a big way, but Sue seems only a little bit concerned about this. Remember when his powers almost destroyed the universe?

Commercial break: Is it me, or are Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Zorro all the same guy?

Trivia time: According to the Marvel wiki, this is the one and only appearance of Spinnerette. She did, however, become something of an inside joke around Marvel. Whenever the editors would be accused of not creating new characters anymore, they’d respond, “What about Spinnerette?”

Fantastic or frightful? Another Twilight Zone-type standalone story. While the sci-fi plot is kind of hokey, the various character beats in between show just how well John Byrne understands the FF.

 Next week: She’s a hottie.

****

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. This was the series’ 20th anniversary, so we get a double-sized issue and an… interesting backup story. We’ll get to that in time, but first here’s Byrne’s tribute to the comic’s history.

We begin with a retelling of part of the FF’s origin, with them sneaking aboard their spaceship, taking off, and getting caught in the cosmic rays. Just as their powers start to emerge, Johnny wakes up — it was a dream! As Johnny goes about his morning for the next couple of pages, we discover that he, Reed, and Sue are not the Fantastic Four, and living in Liddleville, a quaint, old-fashioned small town.

Ben is here too, as a human, where he is married to Alicia. They run the local café. Alicia can see, and her stepfather the Puppet Master is not an evil supergenius, but a loving father figure.

The next night, Sue has a nightmare in which Ben transforms into the Thing. The next morning, Reed, Johnny, and Ben compare notes. Ben has been having the dreams too, imagining the four of them as superheroes. At the local university, where Reed teaches, he and a professor named Vaughn are working on a particle accelerator. Vaughn tells Reed is not qualified enough to work on the machine, and he sends Reed back to the classroom. Alone in the classroom, Reed nods off and has a dream about the Fantastic Four. He sees them at the Baxter Building, where a strange force takes over their minds. Possessed, they travel to a medieval castle in the Adirondacks (?) where the Puppet Master is waiting for them.

Reed wakes, deducing the dreams are real, and their lives in Liddleville is an illusion. Thinking his consciousness has been transferred to a robot body, Reed cuts himself in the arm, only to feel the pain and bleed all over the place. (Harsh!) Reed reunites with his teammates/family at his house, still insisting that somehow the Puppet Master has their minds trapped in artificial bodies. They all confront the Puppet Master who, after Ben roughs him up, confirms that they are all puppets (or “synthe-clones” as he puts it). He says he did all for Alicia, so she could have the happy life she always wanted. Puppet Master says he needed help to do this. Cue Doctor Doom — a gigantic Doctor Doom who fills the entire sky over the town in a two-page spread.

Cut to Dr. Doom’s lab, where he has the FF, Alicia, and Franklin catatonic and hooked up to a table with the miniature town of Liddleville on it. Doom says he will let the heroes live out the rest of their lives in Liddleville while he plots to retake the throne of Latveria without their interference. He also admits that he played the role of Vaughn, just to mess with Reed for his own amusement. Our heroes return to the Liddleville Puppet Master, who says he uses a transferal circuit in his ring to transfer his consciousness back and forth to his body. Reed swipes the ring, but discovers that Doom has already deactivated it.

There’s a lot of drama, as Reed tries to figure out how to return everyone to their bodies. Ben and Alicia don’t know what to make of this, not sure whether they want to go back to a life where she is blind and he’s a monster. Reed figures out that he can use the particle accelerator, which actually works, to recreate the cosmic ray storm that gave them their powers. Ben shows up and volunteers. The machine successfully turns him back into the Thing. Alicia remembers what Ben looks like because she had touched his face so often in the past, so she does not react to him as a monster, but instead kisses him on the lips. (wha-hey!)

The FF get their powers back, and Doombots (Doombot puppets?) attack. After some fighting, the FF defeat them and then escape Liddleville. They’re now running around in Doom’s lab, all teeny-tiny. They use the water from the Liddleville river to flood the floor of the lab, and then Sue flies through Doom’s castle to find him. He’s seated as his piano, unmasked, playing a mournful tune.

Sue sneaks a peek at Doom’s face (we don’t get to see it) and tries to fight him. He traps her under a glass, like a bug, and then returns to the lab. He doesn’t fall for the electrocuted water on the floor, and zaps one of the wires to shut off the power. This is all part of Reed’s plan, however. Johnny flies around Doom to distract him. With an especially powerful punch, Ben knocks Doom off his feet. He gets blasted by some energy, which I guess was from his laserblast earlier combined with whatever device Reed whipped up. It’s confusing. The gist of it is that this energy blast returns the FF, Alicia and Franklin to their bodies, while trapping Doom in Liddleville, his consciousness inside the Professor Vaughn puppet. Puppet Master’s real body is nowhere to be found. The residents of Liddleville, led the by the Puppet Master, chase “Vaughn” out of town.

Then there’s the backup story. Although advertised as a new story by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this is actually compiled by storyboards Kirby drew for the late ‘70s Fantastic Four cartoon. It’s a crude retelling of Fantastic Four #5, but with H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot in place of the Human Torch. It doesn’t look like Kirby art at all. (There are a lot of conflicting stories about how/why this backup came about. The gist of it is that Kirby didn’t want anything to do with this comic, or at least did not approve of using the storyboards. He was allegedly going to be included on the cover next to Stan Lee, but was taken out at the last minute. Whose decision that was depends on which version of the story you read.)

Unstable molecule: Reed is definitely the hero in this one, figuring out Doom’s plan, and outthinking his enemy, even in this impossible situation.

Fade out: After “unofficially” seeing Doom’s face in issue #197, Sue sees his face for real for the first time in this one.

Clobberin’ time: It seems odd that Ben would open a café, since he’s not shown much interest in being a cook or a business owner in the past. The café serves pizza, so maybe that’s a reference to how he’s such a hardcore New Yorker. His past as a college football star gets mentioned.

Flame on: Johnny’s new life in Liddleville is as a mechanic. His car’s license plate is “HOT 1.”

Fantastic Four and a Half: Franklin takes seeing his folks in action in stride, referring to Doom as “the bad man.”

Fantastic Fifth Wheel: It’ll come to no one’s surprise that H.E.R.B.I.E. is totally useless during the backup story. All he does is fly around and say “My sensors compute [states the obvious].” Shouldn’t he have laser cannons or something? (And would you believe we’re still not done with H.E.R.B.I.E.?)

The cover features a bunch of Marvel heroes surrounding the FF. These include future alternate member She-Hulk, who is placed right between Reed and Sue, somewhat presciently. The cover also has appearances by former alternate members Power Man and Impossible Man, and future alternate member Storm.

Commercial break: This cost eight bucks?!?

Trivia time: This issue later got a direct sequel in Micronauts #41, where it’s revealed that the Doom puppet turned around conquered Liddleville, and turned it into his own puppet version of Latveria.

Puppet Master previously appeared in Marvel Two-In-One #74, where he attended the FF’s Christmas party (!) and promised to heal his relationship with Alicia. That kinda/sorta leads into his motivation to create Liddleville.

A backup story in a previous Marvel annual explained that Dr. Doom’s servant Boris is the one who revived him after he was driven insane in issue #200. During this time, Doom also showed up in issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, and even Dazzler, all scheming to take back Latveria.

Fantastic or Frightful? A really cool Twilight Zone-type story. John Byrne lets the story play out at a leisurely pace, so we spend a lot of time with the powerless FF just hanging out in Liddleville like normal folks, which offers a lot of nice character moments. This is probably the best Puppet Master story ever done, with a clever use of his powers. Here we have John Byrne pushing the art of comics in new directions, giving the whole issue a genuine cinematic feel.

Next week: Out for a spin.

****

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

****

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. Writer-artist John Byrne takes into space in a big way in issue #235, answering the question, “How do you fight an entire planet?”

This issue’s first page has no dialogue or captions, other than the title and credits. All we see is the Thing walking through a tunnel of purple goo, with a big machine on his back. We don’t get the context of what’s happening until the next page. He’s suffering extreme heat, and he says he has to get to the “core.” From there, we go into a flashback, going over what happened in the last issue. The FF are investigating some strange earthquakes, only to deduce the cause as an attack from outer space. They flew into space, where they were confronted by… Ego, the living planet!

Ego shoots down the FF’s ship, even while Reed is astonished at how the surface of the planet is Ego’s “skin.” On the surface of the planet, the team comes across a gigantic “siderial propulsion unit” which Ego uses to travel through space. Ego tries to keep them away from the device by blasting them with psychic energy. He then summons a bunch of anti-bodies (big purple humanoid monsters) to fight the FF. The FF fight the antibodies and reach the propulsion unit. Reed says the device is not part of Ego’s body, but was attached to him by his enemy, the person he has come to Earth to destroy. Reed then says he’s seen this technology before.

Cut back to Earth, where Johnny’s new romantic interest Frankie Raye is just getting out of the shower. Wha-hey! Okay, all we see are her legs and her bare back, but remember this is the era in which sex and violence were upped in a big way in this comic (and comics in general). There are no clean towels in the bathroom, so Frankie has to walk around her apartment naked to get one. She spots herself in the mirror, and is shocked at what she sees. The caption merely states, “She knows!” (We won’t find out what she knows for quite a while.)

On the surface of Ego, Ben and Reed remove a “mini-pack” from the propulsion device. Then, they leap into a hole that Ben describes as bigger than the Grand Canyon, but Reed says it’s just one of Ego’s pores. (!) The heroes travel deeper into Ego’s body (ew) and after only a few minutes, they find Ego’s brain. “I can feel it thinking!” Sue says. But wait, this is only a decoy brain, to throw off intruders. (?) The team ventures farther into Ego, but heat and pressure cause Reed, Sue and Johnny to turn back, leaving Ben alone.

After much travel inside the planet, Ben finally reached Ego’s true brain. The brain makes Ben see Ego’s origin. Right after the big bang, a “clot of star stuff” congealed into a living consciousness, which we now know as Ego. Ben then sees a vision of Galactus, Ego’s natural predator. Then there’s a short recap of Thor’s encounter with Ego (told in previous Thor comics), and how Ego refused to let aliens settle on him, and how Galactus “vanquished” Ego to deep space. Ego has come to Earth because it’s the last place Galactus was seen (in Fantastic Four #213).

Ben throws the mini-kit at Ego’s brain, and makes his escape. This somehow causes the propulsion device to misfire, so Ego flies away from Earth and toward the sun. Ego dissolves when getting too close to the sun, and Ben is flung into space. It looks like it’s over for Ben, but then the FF’s ship flies by and saves him. Ego has been destroyed, and the FF head home.

Unstable molecule: Reed is fascinated by Ego’s bio-construction, but then doesn’t seem to mind when Ego is killed right in front of him. Guess it was either that or save the Earth.

Fade out: Sue can’t turn invisible while on Ego’s surface, because he can sense everywhere she steps. She instead uses a force field to fly over the surface.

Clobberin’ time: While Ben marches alone toward Ego’s brain, the captions wax eloquently on the courage and strength of character of test pilots. There’s even a quote from Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, which would become a movie two years after this issue was published.

Flame on: Johnny says the constantly-changing surface of Ego reminds him of “Broomhilda.” Anybody have any guesses what he’s talking about? He doesn’t appear to mean the classic myths of Brynhildr, or the beloved comic strip witch.

Commercial break: The most horrible monster of all time!

Trivia time: No, Ego isn’t dead. In his next appearance, in Rom #69, it’s established that sun’s energies restored him to his original glory. Instead of going after Earth again, he gets mixed up with those no-good Dire Wraiths. Later, a surprise plot twist in a Silver Surfer issue reveals that Ego is actually one of the Elders of the Universe, the oldest and most powerful beings in the universe.

Fantastic or frightful? Can’t think of anything bad to say about this one. Another great Star Trek-type story, with eye-popping artwork throughout. You get a fun sense of saving the Earth as being just another day at the office for our heroes.

Next week: Not quite Smallville.

****

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. Writer/artist John Byrne continues to give the series a strong sci-fi feel, this time with a Spielberg-style “magic in the suburbs” story in issue #234.

We spend the first couple of pages of this issue with a man named L.R. “Skip” Collins. He’s described as “mired in mediocrity,” but also “the most important man that ever lived.” He lives in an ordinary house, works an ordinary job, and can’t get through to his long-haired hippie-type son. As he drives to work, he realizes he’s a half-hour late, and, just like that, he goes back in time a half hour, to make it to work on time. When locked out of the office, the office key telekinetically opens it from the inside, just after he thinks it. Skip’s boss then tells him he’s going on a business trip to New York.

While on the plane to NYC, Skip flashes back to being exposed to a nuclear blast in 1955, when he was in the army. In New York, he sees the tourist sites, including the Baxter Building. There, on the street, he sees Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl walk by, and he follows them. The two of them come across a collapsing building, where Reed saves a falling girl, and Sue uses her force fields to deflect debris.

This is the only beginning, though, as a full-blown earthquake strikes New York. Reed and Sue rush toward the danger, with Skip still following them. Cut to Ben, who is drinking in a NYC Irish pub (and of course the bartender just happens to be named “Mick” ugh…) when the quake trashes the place. Johnny, meanwhile, is with Frankie Raye. He promises to show her that he’s more than just a superhero, and then they make with the kissing. Too bad he has to fly off as soon as the quake hits. He uses his flame to create a pocket of hot air to rescue some falling people.

Everyone regroups at the Baxter Building, where Reed learns that Paris and London are also beset by earthquakes. Reed stays behind in the lab to investigate, while Reed, Sue and Johnny head out into the city for several more pages of the using their powers to help people. That’s when Ben, while on the Brooklyn Bridge, spots Skip watching them. It appears that a chunk of debris knocks Skip into the water. Ben jumps into the water to save the man, but can’t find him. Reed then calls everyone back to headquarters.

Reed deduces that the earthquakes are gravity waves caused by an attack from outer space. The team boards the FF personal rocket, and blasts off into space. Out in the city, Skip, who is somehow OK, sees this, and wishes the city could be back to normal. Just like that, waves of energy flow out of skip, transforming the city back to its pre-earthquake state. Thinking the whole thing was a dream, Skip wanders off back to his hotel.

In space, the FF fly their rocket through the remains of a bunch of destroyed planets, and then into a giant gaseous cloud. Reed calls this a bizarre biological eco-verse — and it’s dying! At the center of the cloud they find… Ego the living planet! Ego says he has traveled across the universe to kill his enemy, and will destroy Earth along with it.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed not only does the science thing, but he co-pilots the ship alongside Ben.

Fade out: Sue’s continues to show her force fields being more powerful than we’d previously seen, using them to clear huge swaths of debris away from citizens in danger.

Clobberin’ time: While at the bar, Ben says he always stops after one drink, because a guy his size can’t afford to get tipsy.

Flame on: Frankie Raye has more or less come around on liking Johnny again, but there’s more complications to come with the two of them.

Commercial break: Is this legal?

Trivia time: This is Ego the living planet’s first appearance in Fantastic Four. He had previously only appeared in several Thor comics, most memorably in the completely insane Jack Kirby story that debuted him.

Fantastic or frightful? The Marvel Wiki has almost no information on Skip Collins, so what are we to surmise about a godlike, reality-bending character who shows up and then wanders off never to be seen again? He’s definitely a forerunner to what Marvel writers would do with Molecule Man a few years afterward, but as far as this issue goes, it’s more of an oddity than anything else. Byrne’s art continues to be excellent, though.

 Next week: Leggo my Ego!

****

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 #233, John Byrne is already trying some experimental storytelling, with this only his second issue as writer/artist.

The issue begins with some dark atmosphere as we’re introduced to Deeden prison, a “hellhole” that most people have never heard of. Inside, George David Munson is on death row, and about to be executed. He’s all emotional, saying that although he’s done terrible things in the past, he’s innocent of the crime that put him in jail. Just before going to the chair, Munson talks to a priest, and leaves behind a letter addressed to Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.

The priest later arrives at the Baxter Building, to deliver the letter in person. Sue meets him in the lobby, and walks him through the building’s security to get up to the FF’s headquarters. Once there, they’re interrupted by Ben and Johnny bickering. They fight for a couple of pages, for an old-fashioned “excuse for the characters to show off their powers for new readers” thing. The priest, who we finally learn is named Father Vito, gives Johnny the letter. In it, Munson explains that he knew Johnny back in high school and now he wants Johnny to clear his name. Johnny remembers being bullied by Munson, and says he’ll look into it.

Johnny travels to Glennvile, which is where we’re told he went to high school. He checks in with the local courthouse, and goes over the facts of the case. We get a flashback to Munson’s crime, told wordlessly in black-and-white panels. It was a robbery that went wrong, and Munson was accused of killing someone as he fled the scene. There were fingerprints and eyewitnesses saying he did it, but Johnny can’t figure out why a two-bit thug like Munson would have used a silencer.

Johnny investigates at the liquor store where the crime happened, but the store manager refuses to cooperate. When the manager sneaks away to a pay phone at night, Johnny corners him. The man tries to burn a piece of paper he has on him, but Johnny controls the fire and saves the paper. He takes it back to New York, where Reed’s high-tech, futuristic computer can identify the number. (Reed invented caller ID!) The number leads to a warehouse in NYC’s Garment District, where Johnny attacks a bunch of crooks. Johnny “interrogates” one of them by burning off half of his hair, until the guy gives up an address.

Johnny flies to the address, a fancy skyscraper penthouse. It’s owned by the Maggia (a.k.a. the Marvel Universe’s version of the mafia) and inside is weirdly-disfigured crime boss Hammerhead. He has a plan to unite all the Maggia families under his leadership. Johnny interrupts, demanding info about Munson. Hammerhead has a bunch of death traps in the room, but they’re designed to trap Spider-Man and not the Torch, so Johnny easily escapes them. Hammerhead then reveals that he’s wearing an exoskeleton that gives him super strength. He and Johnny fight for a few pages. Johnny has him overpowered, but Hammerhead escapes in the end.

The police arrive and arrest all of Hammerhead’s Maggia pals. A detective praises Johnny’s detective work, but Johnny says he “fudged up,” because he still has no evidence to clear Munson’s name. The detective says Daredevil recently gave the cops all of the Kingpin’s criminal records. Because, in the Marvel Universe, the Kingpin somehow benefits from every single crime in New York. We abruptly cut to an epilogue, where Johnny meets Munson’s mother at Munson’s grave. Johnny explains that the murder was really committed by the liquor store manager, a man with Maggia ties, who killed the former manager so the Maggia could take over the store. The manager has been arrested, and Mrs. Munson tells Johnny he is a hero.

Unstable molecules: Reed has installed new security measures at the Baxter Building, including voice recognition and bio-scans of anyone in the building, to confirm that visitors don’t match any of the FF’s known enemies.

Fade out: Sue debuts a new, shorter hairstyle in this one. Sue’s hair will continue to be an ongoing minor controversy throughout Byrne’s run.

Clobberin’ time: Ben is mad at Johnny because Johnny snuck a photo of Christopher Reeve in his room, with a note saying that’s what heroes are supposed to look like. So, DC Comics and/or the Superman movie exist in the Marvel Universe?

Flame on: At the courthouse, Johnny verifies his identity by demonstrating his powers with fire tricks, instead of, say, showing a driver’s license. Perhaps Tony Stark really was onto something with that whole registration thing.

Commercial break: I wonder why more advertisements aren’t this obviously hand-written:

Trivia time: This issue follows up on two other Marvel stories. Hammerhead was presumed dead after his helicopter crashed in Amazing Spider-Man #159, and Daredevil stole the Kingpin’s financial records in Daredevil #172. When Hammerhead next appears, in Power Man and Iron Fist #92, he’s already been apprehended by police and headed for jail.

More importantly, this issue’s Bullpen Bulletins page is the first appearance of…  Puzzle Man! He was supposed to be the “star” of the Marvel Fun and Games comic, which, to my knowledge, was never released. So we never got to see Puzzle Man in his full glory. I like to think he’s running around somewhere in the Marvel Universe, solving cruciverbalist-related crimes.

Fantastic or frightful? I get it, mysteries are tough. Writing a mystery is both a specific skill and a specific mindset. This is a good attempt at a mystery, but it’s just that — an attempt. Still, it shows how a good writer can come up with challenges for a super-powered main character. These fights are no sweat for Johnny, but solving the case really tests him in ways we’ve rarely seen. The artwork is where the issue really shines, from the super-creepy prison opening to Johnny using his powers in creative ways. Overall, we can file this issue under “interesting experiment.”

Next week: Hey, where’s Jack?

****

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