Fantastic Four 203
“…And a Child Shall Slay Them!”
Published November 1978
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Pencils: Keith Pollard
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Wolfman
Cover: Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott

Synopsis

After Reed cleans up left-over radiation from the FF’s fight with Quasimodo last issue, he and Sue are summoned to a hospital to treat Willie Evans Jr., a young boy who is in a coma because his father was exposed to cosmic radiation as a soldier. In his coma, Willie, a mutant and Fantastic Four fan, manifests evil versions of the FF that rampage throughout New York. The FF struggle to contain them until Reed figures out their source and uses his radiation-absorbing device to neutralize them. Willie recovers and Reed suggests the family take him to Professor X for training.

What’s going on here

This is a perfectly fine one-and-done. Nothing of great consequence happens and while the premise is hard to swallow — why does the boy create evil versions of the FF if he’s a fan? — it’s resolved neatly and in classic FF fashion, with Reed saving the day with science. And at least in this issue, Marv Wolfman introduced the device Reed used at the beginning of the story, unlike in the Stan and Jack days, where it would just appear at the end, deus ex machina.

In his ability to create super-powered entities out of radiation, Willie Evans Jr. appears to be an enormously powerful mutant, on a par with the Scarlet Witch and adult Franklin Richards. Apparently there were plans for him to become part of an early version of the New Mutants (along with Kitty Pryde) but Jim Shooter killed that idea. He does reappear many years later, in Iron Man Annual 8, where a manifestation of his power — an evil frog called Grunt — pushes him to battle Iron Man and X-Factor. It’s a pretty good story and worth seeking out.

Also of note: the cover is by Dave Cockrum (with Joe Sinnott’s inks). One of the few Cockrum FF covers. I don’t think it’s a particularly good cover, but there it is.

What I liked

There was some fun kibbitzing among team members. Team dynamics is Wolfman’s strength, here and later in the Teen Titans.

There’s also time for some domesticity, and a glimpse into Franklin’s growth (although it seems like he stays this age for the next two decades):

And I liked this image of Reed and Sue arriving at the hospital, like benevolent deities granting mortals a favor:

What I didn’t like

As mentioned earlier, Wille’s creation of the evil FF didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Buy, hey, mutant powers. They cover up a lot of plot holes.

Anything else?

Some pretty good house ads in this issue, especially for Micronauts (Michael Golden!) and Master of Kung Fu (Mike Zeck!)

Overall

Inoffensive but forgettable