Must Reads: Fantastic Four (Part Two)

Welcome back to the second part of our guide to the Fantastic Four. You can catch the first part here. If you want to read along, the majority of these comics can be found on Marvel Unlimited.

Skip It: Gerry Conway's Run (Fantastic Four #138-152)

It's hard to understand how Ternak never became a huge hit.

Gerry Conway's run picks up the ball where Roy Thomas left it. Focusing on the still disintegrating relationship between Reed and Sue. It also features a ridiculously contrived plot by Doctor Doom and reappearances of the Miracle Man and Sub-Mariner. New characters created by Conway, including a race of abominable snowmen and Darkoth are pretty weak.

The only new character introduced that has had any sort of longevity since was the introduction of Thundra. Meant to be a further commentary on women's liberation and treating women as equals fail miserably. A lot of that is the era in which this story was published (the 70s) and the fact that the writer didn't really know what he was talking about. The last story in his arc was finished by Tony Isabella, which certainly didn't help much.

 Also, it features a lame resolution to the Reed and Sue separation: The Inhumans and Namor stage a fake attack on New York City, just to make the couple realize they still love each other. Kind of excessive don't you think?

Some highlights though: Franklin's powers getting shut down leaving him in a vegetative state and the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver.

 Skip It: Len Wein's Run (Fantastic Four #154-157)

 Clearly meant as a fill-in writer, one of his stories actually is filler that reprints an old Human Torch story from Strange Tales. Outside of that, it's a particularly weak story about Doctor Doom manipulating the Silver Surfer to steal his powers... again. Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 however, featured the first appearance of Multiple Man, so there's that.

 Skim It: Roy Thomas' second run (Fantastic Four #158-181)

Thank goodness they have pills for this now.

 Roy Thomas later came back to the series and it is riddled with good-not-great stories but mostly a lot of fluff. He brought Sue back on the team and got rid of Medusa. It features a plotline where three realities go to war, clearly trying to copy the various Justice League/Justice Society cross-overs that DC had been doing for years at that point. It featured a universe where Reed Richards was the Thing, and Johnny Storm was a cosmically powered hockey goalie (no joke).

 The reappearance of the 50's Marvel Boy (sorta), again typical 50's retro stuff Thomas was known for at the time.

Then there's a rather banal storyline wherein the Thing teams up with the Hulk only to lose his powers. It follows a short-lived and awful, story where Power Man briefly joins the team long enough for Reed to build an exoskeleton that mimics the Thing's powers. This all culminates to a story where the FF have to save Counter-Earth from Galactus, very derivative of the original Lee/Kirby story.

Also running through all this is a plot where Reed is beginning to lose his powers... So basically he's becoming impotent. He later gets dumped into the Negative Zone by his double from Counter-Earth. A plot that completely changes gears, when the story is suddenly taken over by Archie Goodwin and Bill Mantlo. If I were to speculate, it appeared that Roy was looking to change the Fantastic Four roster with Tigra, Thundra, the Impossible Man and the Thing. There's also a Mad Thinker scheme that goes absolutely nowhere.

 I suppose if there is any saving grace for this run it's the fact that it is beautifully drawn by the very talented George Perez. It also introduces Johnny's next love interest, Frankie Raye.

 Skip It: Len Wein's Second Run (Fantastic Four #182-194)

 Len Wien returned to the series by this point, and it only gets worse from here. In this run, Reed decides that because he lost his powers the Fantastic Four should split up. Instead of replacing him with someone else (like they always did before) the team decides to go for it. It then continues with stand-alone issues where each member of the team is pursuing their own thing.

 It introduced forgettable characters like the Eliminator and Nicholas Scratch. It also saw the departure as George Perez as the artist. Keith Pollard takes over from there. While Keith does a decent job, it's not as impressive as Perez.

Skim It: Marv Wolfman's Run (Fantastic Four #195-217)

Whenever Reed and Sue kiss, Franklin does a karate kick into the air.. This kid is not right in the head.

 There are a lot of duds in this run. Wolfman tied up the "Reed has no powers thing" by doing a story where Doctor Doom restores Reed's powers and tries to take over the world using a clone of himself. It's very convoluted.

 From there, Marv ties up the loose ends from his then recently canceled Nova series wherein the Fantastic Four help Nova and his allies stop a Skrull invasion of the planet Xandar. Also, he tries to cram in a story where Johnny goes back to school, only to abandon it later.

Things only get better -- and only marginally -- with the addition of John Byrne doing the art starting with issue #209. Byrne is one of my all-time favorite artists, so his addition is a sight for sore eyes after watching a parade of artists following the generic "Marvel Style" since the departure of George Perez. Unfortunately, this story also brings in HERBIE the robot from that god-awful Fantastic Four cartoon. There is also a plot where most of the Fantastic Four get turned into octogenarians by the Skrulls, only to be returned to their "physical prime". This was a half-assed attempt to explain how the Fantastic Four were still around post-1961 without aging overly much. Thankfully, Marvel invented a Sliding Timescale shortly thereafter.

 A highlight includes the creation if the new herald Terrax, but otherwise these stories are pretty uninspired.

 Skip It: Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz run (Fantastic Four #219-231)

Other than a fill-in issue written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by John Byrne, and even then only for the art, there is not a lot good with this run.

Franklin is into some really weird shit.

This is early Bill Sienkiewicz when he was still penciling in the "Marvel Style" and hadn't yet developed the art technique that made him popular. You start seeing this close to the end of the run, but while that style works with dark and gritty titles like Moon Knight, it certainly doesn't work that well with the Fantastic Four.

The stories were the least inspiring of the whole run. It's not entirely Doug Moench's fault, however. From what I understand, at the time Doug was not allowed to use any pre-established Fantastic Four villains as they were being used too frequently. Yeah, no surprise that not coming up with any interesting characters for 20 years will do that.

What you got was a story involving Cap'n Barracuda, a poorly conceived story about Viking space gods, a wrap-up of the Shogun Warriors series where they couldn't even mention or show the giant robots due to lapsed licensing issues, and a horrible Galactus stand-in called the Ebon Seeker. The run tied up with a drab story where the Fantastic Four and an entire block of Manhattan end up in the Negative Zone and have to battle a lame Annihilus stand-in. Johnny Storm has a relationship that goes nowhere. Also, we get a peek into Franklin's head again, and man is it oddly sexual.

 Needless to say, this run is not fondly remembered in the slightest.

 Sidetrack: Marvel Two-in-One

Trying to repeat the success of Marvel Team-Up, a title that featured Spider-Man teaming up with another hero in the Marvel Universe, Marvel Two-In-One was about the Thing doing that very same thing. It also featured a rotation of different writers and artists. It was often a series used to tie up loose ends from canceled series, such as Skull the Slayer, and the Scarecrow. The series is memorable for reviving Spider-Woman, the Project PEGASUS Saga, and the Serpent Crown Affair. Otherwise, there's not much that is very compelling here. These stories are fun reads, but not much else. 

A random selection of these stories have been digitized for Marvel Unlimited, however good luck finding copies of issue #21 and 99! Those stories feature the Thing teaming up with Doc Savage and Rom the Spaceknight, two licensed properties that Marvel no longer has any rights. Therefor these stories have remained unpublished since their initial run. Hey maybe Dynamite Entertainment (who has the Doc Savage License) and IDW Comics (who has ROM) will work with Marvel to see these published. Both companies have worked with Marvel before (Dynamite doing a Spider-Man/Red Sonja crossover and IDW doing a New Avengers/Transformers series) 

 Must Read: John Byrne's run (Fantastic Four #232-294)

 I would put this right at the top of the list. Even above the legendary run by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. John Byrne revitalized the Fantastic Four franchise in the 1980s saving it from a horrible twenty-year slump. His first story was titled "Back to Basics" and that's exactly what he did. Took the Fantastic Four from the stagnant limbo that they were caught in since Kirby left the series and brought it back to what was great about the series.

Seriously, this kid is fucked up.

 However, Byrne wasn't just rehashing old themes, he understood that the Fantastic Four weren't just a super-hero team, but also a family and that families go through change. There was plenty of classic Fantastic Four tropes, giving the stories a nostalgic twinge, however, he also took the trials and tribulations of a close-knit family and updated it. When you look at Lee and Kirby's run it's very "American Dream" style storytelling: longtime sweethearts get married and have a kid, you got the hot rodding kid brother, and the gruff tough guy and best friend who also has his dream girl. With all the emotional trappings and personal drama that comes with that dynamic, plus the added bonus of punching super-villains in the face and exploring the unknown.

 When John Byrne took over the series the "American Family" had taken a dynamic shift. It was a different world in the 20 years since the Fantastic Four first appeared. Themes that were hardly touched upon in other titles became a reality here. Reed and Sue expecting a second child only for Sue to have a miscarriage, the Thing and Alicia Masters realized that their relationship wasn't working out and began to drift apart. Johnny struggling to find a meaningful relationship and after losing Frankie Raye when she became a Herald of Galactus, and after the Secret Wars he began dating Alicia Masters and the two were getting close to being married. Byrne also made Franklin Richard's budding mutant powers a legitimate plot device as opposed to a contrivance with no lasting impact.

 Not only was it a masterful execution of stories, Byrne also did a bang up job working around dead-end plots that were enacted by other writers, such as developing the plot to have Doctor Doom return to the throne after he was disposed of in Fantastic Four #200. He also expanded upon Doctor Doom, making him a more menacing character.

 The biggest down point to Bryne's work was the obvious editorial interference. This was the era when Marvel first started doing their major crossovers. While Secret Wars gave John the opportunity to change things up by putting She-Hulk on the team roster, and explore what happens when the Thing returns to the team to discover he lost Alicia to Johnny. When Secret War II came down the pipe, John tried to stay away from it, or at least use it to clean up some glitch continuity. Ultimately, this interference led to Byrne departing from the title mid-story, but by then he had lost his thunder, writing stories about reality warps and Adolf Hitler than anything particularly that interesting. His run ends with a story about Central City (the birthplace of the Fantastic Four) getting trapped in a time bubble where time moved forward generations in a matter of seconds. There, they discovered a society that worshiped the FF as gods. It would have been interesting to see where John was going to take it, but unfortunately, the final part of the story was finished by Roger Stern.

On a lighter note: Please enjoy this hilarious panel about miscarriages!

Next Time...

The Thing fights Leprechauns then becomes a wrestler! The status quo gets restored. Robot Josef Stalin! Also, we enter get into the 90's but is that era of Fantastic Four comics as god-awful as you're expecting? Come back again soon to find out!