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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.

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. The first part of writer-artist John Byrne’s run on the book was a series of stand-alone Twilight Zone-style stories. Issue #241 is one of the last of those, before getting into bigger, longer arcs.

We begin with Nicky Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. visiting the FF, investigating strange energy readings in Africa. The energy is near Wakanda, home of the Black Panther, but coming from there. Because Wakanda is outside S.H.I.E.L.D.’s jurisdiction and because the Panther recently relinquished his Avengers membership, it falls onto the FF to investigate. Ben dresses up as treasure hunter Idaho Smith (get it?) for the trip. Frankie Raye joins them as well.

Upon landing in Wakanda, there’s a brief fight with the Panther’s guards, after which Black Panther invites everyone to his throne room. He says he’s been tracking the same mysterious energy. He says the energy is coming from a nearby Tower of M’Kumbe, a place of dark legends. He outfits the FF with travel supplies and sends them on their way. Once they’re gone, Black Panther unmasks to reveal that he’s not the real Black Panther, but some guy named M’Naka. He’s filling in for Black Panther, who’s gone missing.

Upon arriving at the tower, the FF are ambushed by men dressed as ancient Roman soldiers. They let themselves be taken captive to get more information, with Sue secretly following them while invisible. The soldiers lead our heroes into a deep underground complex, which leads back outside to a recreation of ancient Rome.

The FF are taken before the Emperor, named Gaius, whose face is hidden behind a golden helmet. Frankie has had enough, and attacks. Gaius then somehow neutralizes all the FF’s powers, turning Sue visible and transforming Ben back into a human. Gaius demands that Frankie be punished, Sue be kept as his new bride (!), and the rest of the FF are to be imprisoned. Elsewhere, in a cell, T’Challa the Black Panther awakes surrounded by his unconscious hunting party. His fellow hunters are robots disguised as humans (why not?). He recovers his Black Panther costume from one of them and prepares his escape.

Sue wakes up in a luxurious bedroom, where guards tell her that games are going to be held in her honor. In a cell, Reed thinks about how he’s encouraged his teammates to solve problems without their powers, and now finds himself having to do just that. The Black Panther finds Frankie Raye hanging upside down over a fire, an ancient Roman means of torture. He then fights a couple guards.

Sue, looking regal in a blue and white gown, is taken to a giant arena filled with people who make no sound. Gaius explains that he used his power to make all his citizens mute because they could not master Latin. Then we get the origin story. He was once a Roman soldier under Emperor Caligula, who came upon a crashed alien spaceship. He killed the alien inside and donned its armor, which unleashed the innermost power of his mind. Now immortal, Gaius set about recreating the glory of Rome in his own image.

Gaius wants Sue to become his bride. He takes control of Johnny and Ben’s minds, forcing them to fight to the death in the arena. If Sue refuses, one of them will die. She fights back, pulling off Gaius’ helmet. There’s nothing underneath — it’s just an empty suit of armor. It collapses, and everything Gaius created is magically undone. All the people turn into age-old skeletons, and all the buildings crumble. The FF get their powers back and escape, with Frankie flying the Black Panther to safety. The entire tower then disappears.

After some cheeky business of finding some clothes for Sue, because her gown vanished along with everything Gaius created, Reed explains that the alien armor fed off of Gaius, so that his physical form was completely absorbed into the armor. With that done, the Black Panther leads everyone safely back to Wakanda.

Unstable molecule: Despite his talk about using his brain to find an escape, Reed doesn’t actually do that. Nick Fury refers to Reed as “ol’ pal.” This is a subtle reminder that these guys are supposed to be World War II vets.

Fade out: These ‘80s comics went big with sexiness, and Sue is sexed up in this one, spending most of the issue half-naked. She does save the day in the end, though.

Clobberin’ time: The Black Panther’s guards don’t recognize Ben because he’s in his original lumpy form instead of his rocklike form. He doesn’t look that different, guys. His temporarily reverting back to human isn’t made much a big deal of.

Flame on: On the letters page, a reader chides the creators for Johnny’s use of the word “ain’t,” saying Johnny is too smart to talk that way. The editor (Jim Salicrup, I believe) argues that Johnny says “ain’t” only as a joke.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Frankie has seemingly changed her opinion of superheroes now that she is one, saying that she’s always dreamed of meeting the Black Panther.

Commercial break: Thanks to this ad, I learned Cavendish’s horse’s name is “Smoke.” I have no idea what Custer and Buffalo Bill are doing there.

Trivia time: We’re not told, exactly, how or when the Black Panther left the Avengers, but it would have to have happened sometime between his appearance in the book in issue #181 and when the new lineup was announced in issue #211. An ongoing thread throughout that entire run was about cutting the large Avengers membership down to just a core group, and the Panther didn’t make the cut.

In Amazing Spider-Man #229, which came out the same month as this issue, Madam Web tries to contact the FF and ask them help Spider-Man battle the Juggernaut. She learned they were out of town and poor Spidey had to fight alone.

Fantastic or frightful? Talk about packing a lot of info into a single issue. This is like reading an entire movie in 22 pages. Byrne has the whole thing divided up into chapters the way Lee and Kirby used to, for some retro run and to make the story feel bigger than it is. Just a good old fashioned adventure story.

Next week: New York goes galactic.

****

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. 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.