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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. This week, with issue #232, the series begins one of its best runs, if not one of the finest runs in all of comics, thanks to writer-artist John Byrne.

After a decade of repetitive, go-nowhere storylines, the latest regime change at Marvel decided to start taking Fantastic Four seriously again. Artist John Byrne shot to meteoric fame after working with Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men, which was then experiencing white-hot popularity. Byrne had so much clout that Marvel gave him the keys to the kingdom — creative control over Fantastic Four, once its flagship title.

For most of the 1980s, Byrne wrote, penciled, and inked FF. Byrne often went back to the Lee/Kirby classics and put a modern, more sophisticated take on them. Heavily influenced by sci-fi film and television, his art work has a strong “Spielbergian” bent. Also, as is the case with many comics from the ‘80s, the sex and violence were upped in a big way.

John Byrne’s self-portrait, from the 1980 book THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE, OR OUT OF MY HEAD.

Byrne is also controversial. Never hesitant to speak his mind, comics history is full of stories about who Byrne got mad at and who got mad at him. Any research into Byrne’s history devolves into a bunch of “he said/she said” stories. Therefore, he often rubs fans the wrong way. Me, though? I’m a big, big fan. I’m way more interested in Byrne’s masterful storytelling than I am in discussing whether he is a jerk.

Enough generalities. Let’s talk about issue #232. We begin with Diablo, the evil master of potions, giving a big speech while conjuring clay figures of the FF. It’s a deliberate throwback to Dr. Doom playing chess with little FF figures in his first appearance. Diablo doesn’t say why, exactly, he wants to destroy the FF, but I think we can assume that it’s because they’ve defeated him in the past. Then, there’s a twist, as Diablo’s landlady knocks on the door, and we realize he’s not in some evil lair, but a crappy little apartment. Diablo is disguised as “Mr. Olbaid” (get it?) and he chases her away. Then he summons some creatures he calls his “little ones” and sends them on their way.

We then check in on Sue, who is getting her hair done at a fancy salon with a, let’s say, flamboyant hairdresser. (Sue’s ever-changing hairstyles will be an ongoing thing during Byrne’s run.) A giant stone monster rises up from under the street. It’s a talkative monster, saying he’s there for Sue and “woe betide those who stand in my way.” Sue tries to get to her FF flare gun, but the monster covers her with quick-drying cement (the cartoon kind that goes rock-hard instantly) before she can get to it.

Then we go to Ben, who is at the movies with Alicia. A water monster attacks him, enveloping him in a giant blob of water, with nothing for him to punch, and threatening to drown him. He tries to dig down into the sidewalk, still not escaping the water. Cut to Johnny, who is in Central Park reuniting with on-again/off-again romantic interest Frankie Raye. She tells him that there is more to her than he knows. Before she can go on, they’re both swept up into the air by some powerful wind. The wind throws them to the ground, and then takes the form of a tornado with a human-like shape.

Next we go to Reed, working in his lab. He’s tracking peculiar energies throughout the city, only to be attacked by a fire monster. He thinks it’s Johnny at first, but then creature introduces itself as the Living Flame, and Reed somehow deduces its fire is “elemental flame” which I guess is different from normal flame. Reed stretches into a bouncing ball shape and escapes the building. He then stretches into parachute shape to float to Central Park, where Frankie sees him and gets his attention. Reed and Johnny do the “switch combatants” thing, with Johnny fighting the Living Flame, and Reed pretending to flee from the tornado monster.

Back with Sue, she uses her force field to expand the space between her and the cement, freeing herself in a total badass moment. She then escapes by sliding along her force fields the same way Iceman slides around on his self-made ice bridges. Ben, still trapped in water, finds his way to a sporting goods store in hopes of saving himself with scuba gear. The water monster responds by trapping a civilian in the water. Fortunately, Sue shows up and traps the water monster in a force field. Now it’s their turn to play the “switch combatants” game, as Ben goes after the rock monster and clobbers it real good.

More fighting! Reed uses a portable generator to electrocute the water monster. Sue traps the air monster in a force field, and then destroys it by compressing it into a single drop of water which makes it no longer exist. (It doesn’t make sense to me, but what do I know about elemental monsters?) Johnny, meanwhile, remembers that fire cannot exist without oxygen, so unleashes his nova flame, burning up all the oxygen around him, destroying the Living Flame.

Back at the Baxter Building, Reed says he knew the monsters were supernatural elementals, and that only Diablo could have summoned them. He picks up the phone and calls someone for some magical help. Later, at night, we see Diablo in some seedy back alley, where’s he’s apprehended by Reed. Diablo has a case with four small statues, which he used to summon the elementals. Reed says the statues are stolen and wanted by Interpol. How did Reed find Diablo? Dr. Strange is also there, having used his magic (the Eye of Agamotto, one assumes) to track the villain down. “Oh the ignominity!” Diablo says. Reed thanks Strange for his help, and then takes off, to take Diablo to the police.

Unstable molecule: Dr. Strange refers to Reed as “Professor Richards.” When did Reed get a teaching gig?

Fade out: There’s much debate on the internet about when, exactly, Sue started to use her force fields for transportation. This might not be the first time, but it announces in a big way that she can use them for getting around, like flying.

Clobberin’ time: The movie Ben and Alicia go to see is The Elephant Man. He gets all teary-eyed, saying “It had its moments.”

Flame on: Johnny starts up his romance with Frankie Raye again, and she’ll be a big part of the book from here on.

Commercial break: Learn law enforcement!

Trivia time: The inker for this issue is credited as “Bjorn Heyn,” which is, obviously, an anagram for “John Byrne.”

This story unofficially crosses over with new material added to Classic X-Men #39, where Diablo, in his disguise as Mr. Olbaid, passes Storm on the street and thinks “Pretty girl!”

Sue’s Liberace-esque hairdresser is named Milo Tindolini. To my knowledge, he never appeared again. Just imagine if he had became a regular Marvel supporting character, the guy who does the hair for all the Marvel heroes.

Fantastic or frightful? Byrne kicks things off with a simple story, but an effective one. Each member of the team gets a moment to shine, using their powers in creative ways, and the elemental monsters are a powerful threat. In short, a fun romp.

Next week: Dead man walkin’.

****

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. For several weeks, we’ve been zipping through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby and before John Byrne, and now we’ve reached the end. As the saying goes, what a long strange trip it’s been. It’s fitting, then, that we get one last burst of “middle years” weirdness, as famed creators Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz conclude their run on the book.

Issue #225: The FF are at the North Pole, where the immortal Viking Korgon is not so immortal anymore, but instead is dying. His failing powers caused power blackouts all over the world, hence the FF’s involvement. The other Vikings explain that Korgon’s radiation powers are what provide life to them, in their hidden dome. Reed agrees to help, and gets to work in the Vikings’ science lab, in the hopes of finding a cure.

You can’t mention Vikings in the Marvel Universe without Thor, so we cut to Asgard, where Odin has taken notice of this. He sends Thor to investigate this Korgon guy. Reed succeeds in healing Korgon, and the Vikings hold a big party to honor the FF. Korgon replenishes the dome for another hundred years, and then asks Reed to make him human again. This procedure backfires, and Korgon becomes even more powerful. Enraged, he attacks Reed. Thor arrives, and everyone fights for a while. When Korgon threatens to destroy the entire dome, Thor summons Odin’s help. Odin appears and takes away Korgon’s powers. Korgon admits to his people that he’s not really a god, and the superheroes leave the Vikings alone, to work things out for themselves.

Issue #226: A giant robot attacks a train in the Carpathian mountains, stealing a fortune in gold on board. The FF see a news report on them and wonder if their new friends Carson, Genji, and Savage are involved. (The FF recently met these three characters in Marvel’s Shogun Warriors comic.) In a case of perfect timing, Carson, Genji and Savage show up at the Baxter Building. These three pilot the giant Shogun Warrior robots, until this new robot came along and destroyed them. The pilots are now asking Reed for help.

The FF and the robot pilots travel to the Far East, where they find this new robot attacking a city. The FF fight the robot while the pilots find its stash of stolen gold. It finds them, introducing itself as… the Samurai Destroyer. Its pilot is a simple explorer who found the Samurai deep beneath the Earth. He rebuilt and plans to use its power to do anything he likes. Everybody fights the Samurai, while the three pilots get inside it and take out the explorer. They then blow up the Samurai. Without their giant robots, the three pilots decide to go their separate ways, saying you don’t need a robot to be a hero.

Issue #227: Reed gets a phone call from old colleague in Lost Lake, Pennsylvania, about a mysterious meteor that crashed there. He says this is a good excuse for the whole team to use this as a vacation. Upon arriving, the heroes are attacked by a giant pterodactyl, that was once a bird before it was exposed to the meteor. After fighting off the creature, Reed deduces that aliens similar to prehistoric trilobites caused the change.

After more “we’re on vacation” comedy shtick, Reed and Ben fight a wolf transformed into a giant monster wolf by the trilobites. Ben swims to the bottom of lake to find the meteor, and he fights an alien-transformed sea serpent. Unbeknownst to the others, a trilobite attaches itself to Sue. She starts turning into a monster, but Reed appeals to the humanity still lingering inside her, saying he knows she still loves him. This is enough for him to get in close and remove the trilobite. Reed deduces that fossil fuels are the aliens’ weakness (!) and the town returns to normal. Except in the last panel, we see some of the trilobites survived.

Issue #228: Johnny is all excited because he has a date with Lorrie, the girl he met at the racetrack a few issues back. Reed, meanwhile, wants a neurologist to look at Franklin in case his powers return, but Sue is worried Franklin is too young for such a thing. The FF and Franklin and even Lorrie all go to see this doctor, Jankovitz. He wants to use a biofeedback technique to tap into Franklin’s mind. Johnny and Lorrie leave them to it to go on their date, taking the Fantasticar to makeout point!

In the lab, Franklin’s mind produces a ball of energy, which leaves and travels to makeout point, where it zaps some guy picking a fight with Johnny. Fueled by psychic energy, the guy, named Franco, lashes out with Franklin’s subconscious anger. In the lab, Sue switches off Jankovitz’s biofeedback machine, which causes Franco to return to normal. Reed thanks Jankovitz for his help, but says he must take care of his son himself.

Issue #229: While our heroes are enjoying a day out in New York, the city is temporarily enveloped in darkness. Reed investigates, only for a mysterious man to emerge from a portal of darkness in the sky. The guy attacks, but he absorbs light, sound, and mass into his body, making it impossible to fight him. After a lot more fighting, the man communicates with Reed telepathically. He calls himself the Ebon Seeker, and he escaped from the heart of a black hole, and that there is a device on Earth that is killing his world.

Our heroes try to fight back, but the Ebon Seeker blasts them, trapping them in pure darkness. Just when it seems that all is lost, they’re contacted by an angelic woman calling herself Fire Frost. She says she’s seeking the Ebon Seeker in the hopes of preventing a cosmic cataclysm. Also, she’s his lover!

 Issue #230: Fire Frost tells the FF the origin of the Ebon Seeker, and it’s so long-winded and convoluted that I’m not even going to try to recap it. Something about aliens and lost souls and a black hole and the ever-expanding nature of the universe… I don’t know. The FF return to New York (how?) and head straight for the Baxter Building and the Negative Zone portal. Reed hopes the Negative Zone’s energies will have a reverse effect on the Ebon Seeker’s dark energy. The Ebon Seeker finds them and attacks. Reed flips a switch, and an entire NYC city block is sucked into the Negative Zone. The Avengers have a cameo for absolutely no reason.

Fire Frost confronts the Ebon Seeker. She convinces him not to destroy, but to accept his fate. He does, and the two lovers fly off into the darkness together. Reed gives a speech about the NASA Voyager probe and its mission to explore deep space, and only after that does he say they’re likely trapped in the Negative Zone… forever!

Issue #231: New Yorkers panic as Reed tries to find a way back to Earth. A snooty construction boss named Lew Shiner leads the rabble in protest. Not far away, a sinister alien named Stygorr has discovered the chunk of New York in the Negative Zone and wants to claim it as his own. The FF fight Stygorr while Shiner tries to demolish the Baxter Building. Through a complicated series of events, Stygorr and Shiner collide into each other. Their positive-versus-negative energies create an anti-matter explosion which returns the NYC block back to Earth.

Johnny is reunited with Lorrie. She tells him that he’s a great guy, but she’s just not ready to be serious with anyone. While his teammates celebrate returning to Earth, a lonely Johnny mopes.

Unstable molecule: Reed gives a long-winded “explanation” of how the Negative Zone works, including its relation to sub-space, and the introduction of the Distortion Area, that weird area characters pass through on their way to and from the zone.

Fade out: Sue has something of a breakdown at one point, saying that she always wanted to settle down and have a normal family. She then comes around, saying that although they’ll never be normal, she’ll always love her family.

Clobberin’ time: Ben and Alicia go to a Broadway show (Evita, based on the posters in the background) where he does the self-pity thing, saying she’s too good to be with a monster like him. She tells him how much she loves him, and all the theater-goers give the two of them a round of applause.

Flame on: Johnny’s date with Lorrie also includes taking her to a burger joint in the Fantasticar. He also takes her for a flight using his powers. Lorrie kisses him several times before deciding she’s not into him, which is kind of a jerk thing for her to do.

Four and a half: Franklin sees his parents fighting the bad guys on the TV news. This is a big moment for him, as it’s his first realization that they put their lives on the line and are in danger on a regular basis.

Commercial break: Check out Frank Miller drawing Dr. Strange!

Trivia time: The Shogun Warriors! This was another toy line that Marvel got a comics license for, like their Transformers comics. There were about twenty characters in the toy line, but the main three in the comic were Raideen, Combatra, and Dangard Ace. I guess the license ran out, because the characters aren’t referred to as Shogun Warriors in this Fantastic Four issue, and we only see the pilots, not the mechs. The pilots never appeared again in the Marvel Universe, except for Genji, who popped up in one panel in Avengers #300.

Fantastic or frightful? I was really enjoying these Moench/Sienkiewicz issues until I got to the Negative Zone/Ebon Seeker three-parter, which is confusing to the point of being incomprehensible. I applaud them for giving it a go and trying something new with the series, but it just didn’t work. Still, it’s a good place to bring the middle years to a close, with some real talent on the book attempting something new and experimental. That opens the door for a creator with a signature voice, one whose work on Fantastic Four will help define this comic and these characters for the rest of time.

Next week: Byrne, baby, Byrne.

****

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. We’re still hula-hooping our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne. This batch of issues finds the series in an interesting place, with writer Doug Moench and artist Bill Sienkiewicz taking over the book.

Issue #219: There’s tension among our heroes as they bicker while trying to work together in Reed’s lab. Sue blames it on stress. Meanwhile, down in Atlantis, Namor is attacked and a bunch of guys steal the horn he uses to control sea creatures. The thief is Captain Barracuda, high-tech pirate. He summons Giganto, the whale-like monster from way back in issue #4, and a bunch of other giant sea monsters to attack New York. Namor and the FF agree to set aside their differences and work together.

Everybody fights the monsters, eventually breaking into Barracuda’s submarine. Sue uses her force fields to prevent him from using the horn again, and he admits that he’s doing all this just to steal money from all the New Yorkers. Namor punches him out. Namor returns to Atlantis and the FF reaffirm their friendship.

Issue #220: Our heroes are out and about in New York when they come across a bunch of strange power outages. The Avengers contact the FF. Iron Man says he just got off the phone with the president (!) who informed him that the power outages are happening worldwide. To investigate, the FF take off in their private rocket, blasting off into space.

There’s a two-page flashback to the FF’s origin. Then they experience another power outage, bringing them in for a landing near the North Pole, in a frozen wasteland. There, they discover a giant alien device, crawling with aliens. The device causes a giant crystalline tower to emerge from beneath the ice.

Issue #221: Reed, Ben, and Johnny fight the aliens while Sue invisibly tries to sneak inside their tower. The aliens are able to adapt instantly to the heroes’ powers, able to counterattack anything the FF throws at them.

Inside, Sue confronts the aliens’ leaders, who can sense she’s there even when invisible. Turns out the aliens crash-landed on Earth millions of years earlier, and needed to reverse the planet’s polarity in order to go back home. Now, their drones (the ones doing the fighting) have found a way to reverse the polarity, so the leaders have woken up. When they learn intelligent life has evolved while they slept, they call off the fight and stop the polarity. This also stops all the blackouts. Reed repairs their ship, because of course he does, and the aliens depart as friends.

Issue #222: After a couple of pages of the FF horsing around at home, we cut to Nicholas Scratch, evil sorcerer and former mayor of New Salem, a hidden town of magic-users. He’s been exiled to the “Dark Realm” but he finds a link back to Earth. At the Baxter Building, Sue and Franklin play hide and seek, only for him to wander to close to the Negative Zone portal. He gets zapped, suspended in mid-air in some sort of energy field. Sue fires one of those “4” flares into the sky, and the other FFers make their way through New York to join her.

Turns out Franklin has been possessed by Nicholas Scratch, with Scratch manipulating him from the Dark Realm. Franklin/Scratch uses magic to make all the contraptions in Reed’s lab come to life for some fighting and action. Johnny flies to Dr. Strange’s place for help, but the Doc isn’t home. This, however, draws the attention of one Gabriel the Devil-Hunter. The FF travel to Whisper Hill seeking advice from supernatural nanny Agatha Harkness, and Gabriel arrives to join them. Gabriel performs what he calls an exorcism, which allows Scratch to speak to our heroes. He says Franklin’s soul is trapped in the Negative Zone with him, and the portal can only be reopened from his side.

Issue #223: After a tiresome five pages recapping the previous issue, we rejoin the FF en route to New Salem, with Sue using her force fields to keep Franklin/Scratch’s powers in check. In New Salem, we’re reunited with the Salem’s Seven, a team of super-powered magic types, who are still loyal to Scratch. They get loose and run amok. The FF arrive in town, to find the townsfolk all knocked out from a plague of Scratch’s doing, and then our heroes fight the Salem’s Seven.

Then there’s a bunch of weird magic mumbo-jumbo where Harkness and Gabriel allow the FF to enter Franklin’s mind and confront Scratch. They are able to free Franklin thanks to the power of love. Harkness removes all of Scratch’s powers somehow, and then says she’s going to stay behind in New Salem, and no longer be Franklin’s nanny. Everyone says goodbye, and goes their separate ways.

Issue #224: A strange pink mist flows through the sky in New York, causing the FF’s powers to go haywire. Reed deduces that the cause is an unknown isotope located at the North Pole, so everyone travels back to the arctic. There, they are attacked by a bunch of high tech Vikings (!) driving motorcycles armed with laser weapons (!!).

Reed tries to reason with the Vikings, learning that the mist is affecting them as well. To learn more, the FF let the Vikings take them hostage. The Vikings introduce the team to their leader, Korgon, the blind god of fire, who is dying. Korgon says the mist was caused by him trying to replenish the energy that keeps the Vikings alive in the snowy wastes. He further explains that he was once a Viking many centuries ago, who was struck by a meteor, gaining super-powers and immortality from its radiation. Now his immortality is failing, so he tells the FF that they must cure him… and if they refuse, he will kill them!

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed stretches to giant size to act a big ramp for people to slide out of a building during the craziness in New York. Marvel artists are usually pretty good in keeping Reed’s mass fairly consistent (in comic book terms, at least), but here’s almost Godzilla-sized.

Fade out: Sue practices using her force fields in the shape of pincers, so she can grab objects and move them around, as if with telekinesis.

Clobberin’ time: With everyone’s powers going nuts, Ben doesn’t become human again. Instead, he gets small patches of skin in place of his usual rocks. It’s kind of gross. Also, Ben’s skills as a pilot come back into play when he brings the team’s crashing rocket down for a safe landing.

Flame on: While at a racetrack, Johnny flirts with a pretty girl named Lorrie, who invites him back to her place to join him in her Jacuzzi. Wa-hey! Too bad he has to fly off and battle evil instead.

Five and a half: Franklin has gotten a lot older now (they grow up so fast) and he’s speaking complete sentences instead of toddler gibberish. One scene has him reading a Marvel Moon Knight comic.

Commercial break: Hulk slippers!

Trivia time: Gabriel the Devil-Hunter previously appeared in Marvel’s black-and-white magazines, Haunt of Horror and Monsters Unleashed. Writer Warren Ellis tried bringing him back during his Hellstorm revival in the ‘90s. That story ended with Gabriel’s mind getting wiped and leaving him a drooling vegetable, and to my knowledge he hasn’t been seen since. Here’s hoping somebody at Marvel can bring him back to his ol’ devil-hunting ways.

Captain Barracuda was a recurring character in the Sub-Mariner solo comic. He talks in old-timey pirate speech, yarr.

Fantastic or frightful? Sienkiewicz’s art isn’t that crazy experimental style he had in New Mutants, but he does some interesting stuff here, with a lot of shadows and rounded, organic shapes. After several regime changes at Marvel, there seems to be an interest in giving a damn about the Fantastic Four again. The early Sienkiewicz art is really good, but the stories continue to be generic. The best moments are the FF hanging out at home or messing around in New York, before the adventure starts. The adventures themselves are a mishmash of sci-fi/fantasy silliness that’s more confusing than cool.

Next week: Brain parasites and ego-spawn!

****

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. We’re still potato-farming our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne. Byrne is here in parts, doing some penciling in these issues, but he’s not running the show yet.

Issue #214: Reed and Sue are on the verge of death, after a Skrull aging ray turned them into old folks. Ben was critically injured in a fight against Terrax. All three are in suspended animation at the Baxter Building, leaving an angst-ridden Johnny all alone. Johnny tries contacting Tony Stark and then the Avengers, but they’re not home. He then flies up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, where Dum Dum Dugan says Stark is working on converting toxic waste into usable fuel. Back home and alone again, Johnny is contacted by Princess Astra of the Andromeda Galaxy, who the FF met back during the start of this arc. Nova is still fighting the Skrulls out in space, and Astra does not have a cure for Johnny’s teammates.

Johnny feels helpless, and then a Skrull attacks. Turns out he snuck into the building some time ago and has been hiding inside since then. He’s another Super Skrull, with the combined powers of the FF. Fighting! Johnny and the Skrull battle out of the building, across the sky, and then down into the NYC sewers. Johnny thinks he’s killed the Skrull, but no — it was just a Skrull robot! He had the aging ray on him, so Johnny takes the ray to Reed. He wakes Reed up in the hopes that Reed can reverse-engineer the ray. At first, it doesn’t appear to work, but then Reed, Johnny, and Ben wake up, feeling stronger and younger than ever. They renew their oath to use their powers for the good of mankind.

Issue #215: Reed is working in his lab with a scientist named Randolph, when it explodes. This crisis is another excuse for the characters to show off their powers for a few pages. The FF drop Randolph off at his house, where he’s attacked by street punks who think he’s rich. On the way back to the Baxter Building, where they are attacked by Blastaar the Living Bomb-Burst, who has emerged from the Negative Zone portal. They fight their way outside and into the sewers again, where Blastaar escapes.

Randolph contacts the FF, telling them he’d been beaten up by the street toughs. Reed rushed to Randolph’s house, to discover that Randolph exposed himself to an “evolution accelerator” to cure his wounds. He’s now been transformed into a tall, golden, godlike being. He uses his new mental powers to turn the street thugs into rats, as Reed looks on in fear.

Issue #216: Randolph walks on air through Times Square, shocking the crowds while on his way to the Baxter Building. Blastaar, hiding in an alley, wonders what he can learn from this new creature. Blastaar attacks Randolph, and then the FF when they arrive on the scene. Blastaar promises to reveal to Randolph the “truth” about the FF, and somehow the highly-evolved Randolph believes him. He freezes the FF in their tracks and takes Blastaar to the Baxter Building.

Inside the building, Randolph knocks Sue unconscious while she tries to protect Franklin. Blastaar tries to (of course) blast his way back into the Negative Zone. Franklin’s eyes glow red and yellow, and he seemingly sends Blastaar through the portal back into the Negative Zone. Inspired by this, Randolph leaves Earth, saying he will “probe the supreme vastness of the universe.” It’s then not-so-subtly hinted that H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot was the one who originally let Blastaar out of the Negative Zone to begin with.

Issue #217: After being invaded so many times recently, Reed works on repairs and reinforced security for the Baxter Building, while Sue is more concerned about Franklin, who is back with supernatural nanny Agatha Harkness. Johnny heads off to a nightclub, where he’s mesmerized by Dazzler, a mutant singer who can transform sound into light.

Sue, in her bedroom, is attacked… by H.E.R.B.I.E.! The little guy proves to be quite the fighter, almost breaking through her invisible force fields. He also hacks into the building, using all of its tech to trap Sue. H.E.R.B.I.E. next attacks Reed and Ben, almost trapping Ben in the Negative Zone. H.E.R.B.I.E. says because he was built aboard Nova’s ship, his programming merged with the villain Dr. Sun, who was aboard the ship at the time. After more fighting, Reed and Ben manage to rid their computers of Dr. Sun’s influence, and H.E.R.B.I.E. is himself again. Then, darkly, H.E.R.B.I.E. commits suicide (!) by blowing himself up (!!) so this can never happen again.

Issue #218: This one begins with Spider-Man climbing up the side of the Baxter Building. But wait… this isn’t Spider-Man! It’s Paste-Pot Pete, um, I mean the Trapster, in disguise as Spider-Man. His teammates in the Frightful Four have taken the real Spidey hostage, and are watching from a distance. We’ve got the Wizard, Sandman, and new member Electro. The Trapster pretends to befriend the Human Torch, only to knock him out. Trapster then fights Ben and defeats him by electrocuting him.

The rest of the Frightful Four get inside the building. They chase Sue around, and then attack Reed. The real Spider-Man escapes and joins the fight. He and Reed take out the Frightful Four rather easily. Spidey remembers that, as Peter Parker, he was in the middle of talking to a lovelorn Debra Whitman when he was kidnapped, and he rushes off to be with her again.

Unstable molecule: Making Reed younger was allegedly a way to keep him in Marvel continuity without losing his history as a WWII vet.

Unstable molecule: The Frightful Four attack Sue when she’s in her nightgown. Because it’s not made of unstable molecules, it doesn’t turn invisible when she does.

Clobberin’ time: After constantly complaining about how much he dislikes H.E.R.B.I.E., Ben comes around in the end, saying “the little squirt was all right in the end.”

Flame on: Johnny has a real identity crisis when he’s alone, thinking that he’s the least useful member of the team. He uses his flame for precision welding on the Skrull weapon, which is what it takes to save his teammates’ lives.

Five and a half: Franklin’s potentially world-ending super powers make a huge return, with him tossing Blastaar into the Negative Zone. Sue is the only one who seems concerned about this. His “4 1/2” sweater makes its first appearance.

Fantastic fifth wheel: So H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot gets his brain hijacked and then kills himself. It’s pretty obvious that the Marvel writers weren’t happy about having to include the little guy in the comic to align with the TV cartoon. The joke’s on them, though, because this actually isn’t the last we’ll see of H.E.R.B.I.E.

Commercial break: Aww, look at them try to market Star Trek: The Motion Picture as if it’s Star Wars. Also, other than the Klingon, were any of these aliens actually in the movie?

Trivia time: According the Marvel Wiki, Randolph’s superhero name is the Futurist. To date, he has only appeared one other time, in a 1990 Quasar story.

The Spider-Man story is a direct continuation from Spectacular Spider-Man #42, which goes into detail how Spidey was captured by the Frightful Four, not to mention Peter Parker’s friend Deb Whitman being all forlorn and lovelost.

Dazzler’s cameo was part of a big marketing push to introduce that character. Dazzler was allegedly co-created with a record company, so there was a lot of pressure on to promote her as the next big thing. As such, during this time she did cameos in Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four before getting her own series. She later joined the X-Men and is currently a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

A billboard in the Times Square scene reads “Epic.” This was a promotion for Marvel’s Epic Illustrated, another of many attempts by Marvel to break through to the apparently more lucrative magazine market. I looked, but I can find no evidence of a real Times Square billboard for Epic Illustrated in 1979, but if there was one and if anyone has a photo of it, send it my way.

Fantastic or frightful? I always dislike it superhero stories where the heroes are just hanging out at headquarters only for villains to show up at their doorstep to pick a fight, and that’s what keeps happening in this batch of issues.

Next week: Childhood’s end.

****

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. We’re still befuddling our way through the “middle years” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne. Actually, we do get Byrne in this bunch of issues on inks and occasional breakdowns, but Marvel won’t give him creative control over the series for a while yet. Consider this a hint of things to come.

Issue #207: While Reed, Sue, and Ben are in space caught in a war between the Skrulls and the Xandarians, Johnny has gone back to college, where he’s secretly being mind-controlled by an evil genius named the Monocle. As such, the issue begins with a hypnotized Johnny flying around at night committing crimes for the Monocle. We then meet photographer Peter Parker, who was recently fired from working at the Daily Bugle, and gets a staff job with its competitor the Daily Globe. Peter is assigned to take photos at Johnny’s school, where he investigates the mysterious goings-on. That night, seeing the students walk around while hypnotized, Peter transforms into his alter ego, the amazing Spider-Man and takes photos of mind-controlled Johnny committing crimes. He then confronts Johnny, showing him the pics.

Spying on their conversation, the Monocle sends the student body to kill the heroes. Johnny and Spidey fight their way to the Monocle’s office, where the Monocle takes over Johnny’s mind, forcing him and Spider-Man to fight each other. Spidey traps Johnny in brand-new fireproof webbing (!) and Johnny gets his senses back. The Monocle flees in his personal rocket ship (which is parked out in the open on school grounds). The Monocle’s mysterious employers, seen only in shadow, promise to retaliate. They then reveal that they’ve taken Medusa prisoner.

Issue #208: Out in space, Sue uses her force fields to protect her and her teammates from being killed after Nova mistakenly fired on their ship in issue #206. Nova takes them aboard his ship. Ben recognizes the Sphinx, a supervillain currently working with Nova, and they almost come to blows. The Sphinx senses the presence of Xandar’s living computer, and teleports off the ship. Reed tries to stop him, but then he feels the effects of the Skrull aging ray that hit him a few issues back, making him rapidly get older. On Earth, Johnny uses Reed’s ion ray to teleport him to Xander, where he’s reunited with FF and Nova’s crew.

Then, the Prime Thoran, a Xandarian infused with the power of the living computer, declares war on Skrulls. Fearing the ensuing battle will destroy Xandar, the FF and Nova jump into the fray. They’re stopped by the Sphinx, who has also tapped into the computer, which has granted him godlike powers. Everyone fights the Sphinx, which gives Nova’s gang of sidekicks a chance to show off their powers. The Sphinx wipes the floor with everyone, and then announces he will destroy the Earth, because it was his prison for thousands of years. As he flies off, Reed says there is only one person in the universe powerful enough to stop the Sphinx: Galactus!

Issue #209: Everyone gathers around Reed as he invents something. It’s H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot! H.E.R.B.I.E. is here to chart courses through space and perform complex calculations at high speed, to help our heroes locate Galactus. Skrull Empress R’Klll withdraws the troops after being defeated by the Prime Thoran (we don’t actually see the battle), and Nova fears the Skrulls are regrouping for a counterattack.

The FF encounter a spaceship graveyard and an alien insect named Grogarr. His fellow bugs attack the FF, and he gives his life to save our heroes. The FF survive the battle with help from H.E.R.B.I.E., and make their way deeper into unknown space.

Issue #210: After fighting their way through some asteroids that almost kill Johnny, the FF arrive at Galactus’ ship, the same reality-bending one we saw way back in issue #49. Reed explains that Galactus “metamorphosed” back to life after seemingly being killed the last time we saw him. Our heroes break into the ship and immediately attack Galactus, who barely acknowledges their presence.

Reed comes up with a plan. The FF set free all the alien animals in Galactus’ personal zoo (he has a personal zoo!), which succeeds in getting the big guy’s attention. Galactus says he’s aware of what the Sphinx is up to, and that he made Reed a vow never to return to Earth. Reed says that if Galactus defeats the Sphinx, Reed will allow him to rescind his vow. Galactus accepts, and says that the FF must find a new herald for him before he can continue.

Issue #211: Galactus teleports the FF (and H.E.R.B.I.E.!) to an alien world, where they’re attacked by robot “Warmen.” They’re taken captive and brought before the planet’s evil dictator, Tyros the Tamer! (“Tamer?”) He threatens to make Sue a part of his harem. The FF fight him, with the Skrull aging ray showing its effects on Reed and Sue big time. They defeat Tyros and are teleported back to Galactus.

Galactus gives Tyros the power cosmic, transforming him into his new herald and renaming him Terrax. Galactus threatens to turn Terrax into a worm if he does not obey, and Terrax swears loyalty to his new boss. Galactus then says it’s time to save the Earth from the Sphinx, so he can devour the Earth himself.

Issue #212: After three pages of recaps, Terrax arrives on Earth and fights the FF for a bit. The aging ray knocks Sue unconscious, and Reed, now wrinkly and grey-haired himself, puts her in suspended animation in the Baxter Building. Terrax and H.E.R.B.I.E. search for the Sphinx, who has created a “disturbance” to hide from Galactus. The Sphinx has returned to Egypt, where he flashes back to his origin, and how he gained his magic powers and his immortality. He uses his godlike powers to recreate ancient Egypt in all its former glory.

Galactus shows up and confronts the Sphinx. (Galactus actually says, “Sphinx! You speak in riddles.”) On board Galactus’ ship, Reed tinkers with some machines when Terrax returns, threatening to destroy the FF.

Issue #213: Terrax mops the floor with the FF, knocking out Ben. Galactus and the Sphinx fight, blasting each other with their cosmic energies. Terrax defeats Ben and Reed, only for Johnny to freeze him with “liquid oxygen.” H.E.R.B.I.E. takes Ben to the Baxter Building and puts him in suspended animation next to Sue. Galactus manages to defeat the Sphinx by absorbing all of the Sphinx’s powers. He then sends the Sphinx back in time to the day he got his immortality, so that his “curse” is to live his long life all over again.

Reed and Johnny arrive with the Ultimate Nullifier, the weapon with the power to defeat Galactus. The Watcher shows up as well, to observe. Reed says he rebuilt the Nullifier from machinery found in Galactus’ ship. This is enough for Galactus to hear, and he leaves, swearing again to never return to Earth. Reed then explains that the Nullifier is a fake, and that the Watcher was bending his “non-interference” rules by not allowing Galactus to detect the truth in Reed’s thoughts. Just when it looks like all is well, Reed collapses. The aging ray has finally done him in.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed constructs H.E.R.B.I.E. from blueprints he had memorized, and using alien tech. Power-wise, he stretches to liquid-like consistency to slip through the Sphinx’s fingers.

Fade out: Sue’s quick thinking saves everyone after their spaceship blows up.

Clobberin’ time: Although we were told a few issues back that Ben had gotten stronger, he spends these issues getting the crap beaten out of him, by the Sphinx, by Terrax, and even by those Warmen guys.

Flame on: Johnny experiences quite a malaise in these issues, questioning his place in the world. He wonders what his life and his identity might be without his powers or the FF.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Freakin’ H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot. H.E.R.B.I.E. was created for the 1978 Fantastic Four Saturday morning cartoon. A different company had the adaptation rights to the Human Torch, so H.E.R.B.I.E. was created as the Torch’s TV replacement. (Stories about producers not including the Torch for fear that children might set themselves on fire are not true and have been debunked several times.) These issues even address the fact that there’s an FF cartoon, which also aired in the Marvel Universe. Johnny says he’s not on the show because he wasn’t there the day the contracts were signed.

The subplot about Medusa being kidnapped won’t be mentioned again for a long, long time.

Commercial break: Save money with the Hulk!

Trivia time: Spider-Man leaving the Daily Bugle and joining the Daily Globe kicked off an ongoing subplot for him, which is odd that it happens in the pages of Fantastic Four instead of his own comic.

Fantastic or frightful? There’s a real Star Trek feel to these issues, with an “in each episode we visit a different crazy planet” structure. Galactus is written much more in character than in his last few appearances, the Sphinx turns out to be a credible menace, and Spidey/Torch team-ups are always great fun. All that business with Nova and the Xandarians fighting the Skrulls just gets left behind, as if the writers forgot about it. So, a mixed bag of issues overall.

Next week: Home alone!

****

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. We’re nearing the end of the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne. This week, we’re going to space, going to school, and hanging out with an Avenger.

Issue #201: We follow-up to the previous issue, establishing that Latveria is now a democracy without Dr. Doom, and the people are celebrating. The FF return to the Baxter Building, to find that not only has no one purchased it since it went up for sale a few issues back, but no one wants it for fear of supervillains attacking the place. Ben basically bullies the landlord into letting them back in the building at a lowered rent, and our heroes are home again. We get another one of those great cutaways of the HQ:

After moving back in, things get weird. An experimental microbe in Reed’s lab grows into a big blob that attacks Reed. A high-tech exercise device traps Ben, laser guns attack Sue, and Johnny gets trapped in some fireproof foam. After some running around and rescuing each other, Reed says that in order to stop the attacks, the FF must fight the way through their own security devices into the building’s central power core. These security devices include poison gas and killer robots. Sue and Johnny eventually make it to the core and blow it up, saving everyone. The FF celebrate being a team again.

Issue #202: Reed tries to figure out why the Baxter Building’s computers went haywire, when Iron Man shows up. Without saying a word, Iron Man attacks, and there’s several pages of him fighting the FF. Iron Man throws everyone out of the building and makes his way to its “uncoupling lever.” He pulls the lever, and get this: The whole building transforms into a spaceship! It blasts off, stranding the FF in New York. Believing Iron Man to be Tony Stark’s bodyguard, the FF pay a visit to Stark, who says it’s impossible for Iron Man to have been there, because he was busy with other stuff all day. The FF leave, and it’s revealed that Tony actually is Iron Man. He suits up in the armor, meets the FF, and says the man who attacked them was an imposter.

The FF and Iron Man use a “proton tracer” to find the Baxter Building, now relocated to a deserted tropical island. Inside, Quasimodo is waiting for them. Quasimodo, you’ll remember was originally a sentient computer created by the Mad Thinker, who was later given an indestructible body by the Silver Surfer. He says some nonsense about how his “salvation” is in deep space, and that he’s using a fake Iron Man because he’s lost the ability to move. Then, however, he’s able to move just fine, attacking the FF. Iron Man defeats his double, but Quasimodo manages to escape in the FF’s rocket. In space, he finds the coordinates he wants, to discover he’s not looking for a planet, but another ship. The ship is now long gone, leaving him alone.

Issue #202: We begin with a family whose son was exposed to cosmic rays while in the military. (A cosmic ray bomb, specifically.) A doctor, who is one of Reed’s former teachers, asks Reed to consult. Reed puts the kid, Willie Evans Jr., into a device called a “comatron.” Willie is partially lucid, and he murmurs “Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four,” over and over. His eyes glow yellow, and four FF lookalikes appear out of nowhere, but with bizarre, twisted faces.

While hanging out at home (I guess they flew building back to New York), the FF hear about the lookalikes. They jump into action, fighting their own doppelgangers for several pages. All the while, Willie struggles in his psycho haze. Just when the doppelgangers are about to win the fight, they disappear when Willie wakes up. Back at the hospital, Reed says Willie is a mutant, with “duplicate creation” powers. Reed gives Willie a business card with Professor Xavier’s number on it.

Issue #204: This one begins with a lot of techno-speak as Reed thinks something in outer space is draining energy from the Baxter Building, and everyone wonders if Quasimodo is doing it. Reed fires up a “syphoning beam” which brings an alien woman to the building. She’s followed by a Skrull, who attacks. Reed knocks him out with a stasis ray. The woman, Princess Adora, says she’s from the Anrdomeda galaxy, where a Skrull intruder once destroyed her world to consume its natural energy. Her people started a new life in space. The invader strikes again, just in time for the planet’s scientists to find Reed’s ray. Adora’s lover, the heroic Tanak, is going to travel to Earth and seek help, but the Skrull attacks again. In the fight, Adora is the one sent to Earth.

Johnny is out on a date with a girl named Lanie, who dumps him for being dull. He then runs into Frankie Raye, who still gives him grief about how she doesn’t want to date a superhero. He rejoins the team, but says he wants to stay behind while everyone else goes into space to help Adora. The story follows Johnny instead of going to space, where he bums around New York and considers going back to college. He gets a letter from “Security University.” He arrives there, just in time for disaster to strike the school’s science lab. Johnny saves everyone, not knowing that he’s being spied on by… the Monocle! (He was that D-list baddie with the magic camera from issue #97.)

Issue #205: We join Reed, Sue, and Ben in space. They arrive at Adora’s world right in the middle of a huge battle. The FF drive the Skrulls back, angering their leader, Emperor Dorrek. He dispatches an army of Skrulls to attack. Back on Earth, Johnny gets settled in at his new school, while the Monocle reports to his mysterious employer (seen in shadow) that he has Johnny Storm. At night, all the students are put under mind control.

In space, we get a very confusing back story about the war, and that it’s between the Skrulls and Xandar. The Skrulls are after the great computer of Xandar (so… is this planet Xandar or not? I don’t get it). The Skrulls attack, and the FF join the fight (are these guys the Nova Corps or not? I don’t get this either). After a lot of fighting, the Skrulls take Reed, Sue, and Ben captive. The Xandarians, who on the last panel finally confirm that they are Xandarians, say that without the FF, there is no way to defeat the Skrulls. To be continued in Nova #25.

Issue #206: Dorrek gloats about having captured the FF, and he plans to put them on trial in front of the entire Skrull empire, in the center of huge arena. Reed and Ben are shot, and Sue fears they are dead. While the Skrulls continue their attack on Xandar, Xandar’s leader, Thoran Prime, communes with the computer, which transforms him somehow.

Reed and Ben wake up in jail. They’re not dead, but were hit by an aging ray, with them rapidly getting older. They escape from jail and fight their way to an escape ship. Dorrek and Skrull Empress R’Klll argue for a few pages. Then Nova arrives, in his ship with a whole crew of super-sidekicks: Sphinx, Crimebuster, Comet, Dr. Sun, Condor, and Diamondhead. Thinking the FF’s escape ship is full of Skrulls, they attack, seemingly killing our heroes.

To be continued!

Unstable molecules: Reed predicts the omnipresence of cell phones in a big way when he belt radios, attached to each of the FF’s belts, so they can communicate with each other at any time.

Fade out: Sue, not Reed, is the one who powers down the Baxter Building’s malfunctioning computer, and then uses her force fields to contain the explosion.

Clobberin’ time: Ben wants to fly Iron Man’s Avengers Quinjet, but Iron Man won’t let him, saying the controls are “a bit shaky.”

Flame on: Johnny decides he wants to go back to college, but doesn’t know what to study. Aside from being a superhero, he says, the only thing he knows is how to fix up cars.

Four and a half: Franklin definitely graduates from “toddler” to “kid” in these issues. He goes through his always-wears-a-cowboy-hat phase, and he sneaks cookies even after being warned that they’ll spoil his dinner. Agatha Harkness is no longer is nanny but his tutor, stopping by on a regular basis to give him “lessons.”

Commercial break: This was the year that the Fantastic Four TV cartoon debuted on Saturday mornings, featuring H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot (we’ll get to H.E.R.B.I.E. soon enough). Also, how hot is Jana the Jungle Girl?

Trivia time: The original Nova comic had just been cancelled, so his appearance in this story arc is meant to resolve all the dangling plot threads that had gone unfinished in his own book.

Willie Evans Jr. barely appeared in Marvel Comics after this, apparently never having gone to the X-Men. He is, however, prominently featured in the 1986 Marvel Super-Heroes roleplaying game, which includes him in several campaigns and goes into much more detail about how his “duplicate generation” powers work.

We’re not told in issue #201 how Reed defeated the alien microbe, so in issue #204 they drew a panel of him explaining how he did it, with instructions on how to cut out the panel and glue it inside your copy of #201 so the makes more sense. It’s interactive media!

Fantastic or frightful? After the excellent issue #200, we go back to confusing, frustrating stories. The interaction between the FF and Iron Man is quirky fun, but this space story with the Skrulls and the Xandarians is impossible to follow, constantly jumping around plot-wise, and with a ton of characters to follow — and it’s far from over.

Next week: You will never rule Xandar!

****

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

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Making our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne, this batch of issues takes up to the historic issue #200. Issue #197: In the previous issue, Sue, Ben, and Johnny learned that Reed’s mysterious new employer is really Dr. Doom. Reed doesn’t know this yet, though. As this issue begins, Reed is preparing to take a test flight into space, which might restore his missing super-powers. He’s told he has to take the flight, or else his teammates will be destroyed. Making a few last-minute calculations, Reed flies through the cosmic rays and it works! He can stretch again. Unfortunately, this somehow reconstitutes the Red Ghost, who also gained his powers from the cosmic rays. In Latveria, Doom has Sue, Ben and Johnny attached to death traps that negate their powers. He brings Alicia into his palace, parading her in front of his captives. Doom wants her to create a sculpture of him… without his mask! Because she’s blind, she can sculpt the “real” him. Doom then reveals that Reed’s new employer is none other than his own long-lost son! In space, Reed and the Red Ghost fight, until the Red Ghost traps Reed between two floors, and then threatens to burn up their ship in re-entry to orbit. The Red Ghost escapes, because the vacuum of space can’t harm his immaterial form, and Reed barely manages to get the damaged spaceship through the atmosphere for an ocean landing. He’s rescued by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., and somehow deduces that Dr. Doom is behind all this. Issue #198: Reed flies the FF’s pogo plane, which S.H.I.E.L.D. had in storage for some reason, straight to Latveria, where he launches a one-man assault on Doom’s fortress. There are several pages of Reed fighting wave after wave of Doom’s henchmen (I guess Nick Fury got called away on other business). Reed is finally knocked out when a Doombot self-destructs. Doom gloats, because that’s what he does, and he’s preparing a huge celebration in his own honor. Turns out the guys who captured Reed aren’t working for Doom. They’re with Zorba, a one-eyed man with a scarred face. He is leader of Latveria’s secret freedom fighters, who want to restore the country’s rightful king to throne. They’ve recently learned that Doom has an heir, which accelerates their plans. In the palace, Alicia works on the sculpture, and Doom announces plans to transfer the FF’s powers to his son, which he believes will humiliate Reed. Reed, Zorba, and Zorba’s men infiltrate the palace, confronting Dr. Hauptmann, the brother of the man of the same name Doom killed back in issue #85. Reed uses his stretching powers to disguise himself as Hauptmann, but Doom sees right through it. He blasts Reed with knockout gas, and begins the transference. He also reveals his son’s name is Victor Von Doom Jr. Issue #199: While the transference process continues, Doom addresses his subjects, only to be booed and yelled at. Zorba is now among the crowd outside, saying he’s read Doom’s diary (!) and knows the truth about Doom Jr. Doom fires on the crowd, but then apologizes. Reed wakes up and interrupts the transference by smashing up all of Doom’s equipment. Ben proclaims, “We’re a team again!” and newly-reunited FF raise hell as the fight Doom’s henchmen and Doombots for several pages. Doom holds Alicia hostage, stopping the battle and ensuring the FF’s compliance. Doom addresses the angry mob again. He says he knows the people think of him as a dictator, so he’s turning the throne over to Junior. Zorba, whose artificial eye shoots laser beams, gets back inside and frees the FF. Everybody confronts Doom in front of the mob and Zorba reveals that Junior is not Doom’s son, but his clone! Junior flips out and attacks Doom, using the combined powers of the FF. Doom fights back, using his armor’s “electro-magnetic amplifier” to kill the clone. Furious about having to do this, Doom then attacks Reed. Issue #200: Doom blasts the FF with a wave of energy and retreats into the castle, with the clone’s body. Doom prepares his backup plan, which is to send troops to the United Nations and take it by force (!), but he’s interrupted by Zorba, still leading the angry mob outside. Doom fires a vortex machine at the crowd, sending everyone flying. Doom puts Alicia’s statue on board his private plane, and then he flies off. (Doom’s plane has a big “D.D.” painted on the side.) The FF and Zorba find a scroll (!) with Doom’s master plan on it, and Ben frees Alicia from Doom’s dungeon.

The FF fly to Doom’s laboratory in upstate New York, where Doom has already landed. They fight through Doom’s defenses, and Reed ends up in Doom’s lab, confronting Doom face to face. Doom takes the time to re-tell his origin, emphasizing that his main goal in life is to destroy Reed, his most hated foe. There are several pages of Doom and Reed fighting, where Reed uses his powers to counter Doom’s many weapons and deathtraps. Doom talks a big talk about being superior, calling Reed inferior. It’s not just talk, though. Reed starts to struggle against Doom’s might, barely able to hang on when the floor opens under him revealing a fire pit underneath.

Then we go to the United Nations, where there’s going to be a vote on whether Latveria is guilty of “gross negligence in the field of human rights.” The Doombots interrupt the vote, wheeling the statue into the main hall, saying it’s a gift from Doom. This action distracts Doom from tormenting Reed, allowing Reed to escape the fire pit by squeezing himself through a gas nozzle, pushing his powers farther than he ever has. Doom enters his “Solartron,” the room full of mirrors we saw back in issue #196. There, he learns that Sue, Ben, and Johnny followed the Doombots to the U.N., where a fight has broken out. Reed has a device which can short-circuit Doom’s armor (Why’d he wait until now to use it?), and he zaps Doom with it. Powerless, Doom fights Reed with naught but his two fists. The two of them just pound on each other, but the real battle is in their words. Reed chides Doom on using his genius for vengeance instead of bettering the world, while Doom says it’s not about revenge, but about claiming a birthright that has been rightfully been his all along. Doom says Reed is a scientific genius, but lacks understanding of “human motivation.” Doom gets his refrigeration weapon running, and freezes Reed. At the U.N., the statue’s eyes glow with an eerie light. This is Doom taking over the minds of the world leaders, and he convinces them to attack the FF.

Doom proclaims that he has finally conquered the world, when Reed breaks free of the ice and they start fighting again. Doom beats the CRAP out of Reed, insisting that Reed admit that Doom is superior. Doom finally breaks down and reveals that his hatred of Reed is because he blames Reed for the accident that scarred his face, back when the two of them were students. With Doom’s hands around Reed’s neck, Reed insists he never sabotaged Doom’s work, and he was only trying to help. Reed then undoes the locking mechanism on Doom’s mask, pulling it off. Doom looks up and sees his disfigured face in all the mirrors, staring back at him. The sight of his own face drives him mad, and he falls into a catatonic state. This frees everyone at the U.N. from his control.

Later, Zorba takes control of the Latverian government, promising to institute democratic elections. The comatose Doom is locked up in a padded cell, and the FF return home. The last few panels show the Doom statue crumbling back into clay.

Unstable molecule: The ongoing subplot of Reed losing his powers has been going on for more than 40 issues, only to be wrapped up abruptly in these issues. To this day, it has never been revealed where the power loss came from. Some fans say it was stress, others say he got it from Annihilus, but the text has never been clear.

Fade out: Before Reed runs off to confront Doom, Sue insists that he take a minute to give her a kiss. It’s actually a cute moment for them.

Clobberin’ time: After almost a year’s worth of comics in which the Fantastic Four had broken up, it’s Ben, not Reed, who officially gets the team back together again.

Flame on: Johnny uses his incredibly powerful nova flame to get through the missiles Doom fires at the team when they approach. This wipes him out so much that Sue has to catch him in one of her force fields before he drops to the ground.

Commercial break: This ad was everywhere in late ‘70s comics:

Trivia time: Although Dr. Doom takes off his mask in front of the FF in these issues, later issues will retcon this so that they never actually saw his face, despite what it looked like. Later comics will also establish it wasn’t just the sight of his reflection making Doom comatose, but the radiation in the room as well.

The Red Ghost was dissipated into non-corporeal form out in space back in Iron Man #83 (the infamous story in which Tony Stark’s pal Happy Hogan wore the Iron Man armor).

Zorba was named after the classic novel Zorba the Greek, later adapted into a hit film in 1964 and a Broadway musical in 1968. I haven’t read/seen any of these, so I don’t know whether the original Zorba had a cyborg laser eye.

Issue #200 was Marvel’s first-ever double-sized regular issue. Jack Kirby ended his short-lived ‘70s return to Marvel by drawing the #200 cover, uncredited. It was the last thing he drew for Marvel.

Fantastic or frightful? Issue #200 really divides fans. Some think it’s epic action, but others think it’s hokey and overwritten. Me? I love it. The battle between Reed and Dr. Doom starts out with plot, over stopping Doom from taking over the U.N., then it becomes about their differing philosophies, until finally it becomes personal, so that the whole fight is, on its deepest level, their old school rivalry — and all this while they’re brutally beating on each other. Not only is this one of the best FF comics of the “middle years,” but one of the best FF comics of all time. This sort of high adventure and big emotion is what we need to see in a Fantastic Four movie.

Next week: Homecoming.

****

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