Fantastic Four 232
“Back to the Basics!”
Published April 1981
Writer: John Byrne
Pencils: Byrne
Inks: Byrne (credited to “Bjorn Heyn”)
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Byrne and Terry Austin


Synopsis

Diablo, the evil alchemist, launches a plan to subdue the Fantastic Four by attacking them with four elementals. The FF foil his plans by switching opponents and enlsiting Dr. Strange to track down Diablo.

What’s going on here?

After much anticipation, we’ve finally arrived at the John Byrne era, where we will remain for the next 60 issues or so. By now, there’s not much mystery about how Byrne ended up on the FF; after years of creative conflict with Chris Claremont, he wanted complete control over his own title (and apparently he’s still annoyed at Claremont, since he’s rewriting those comics in X-Men: Elsewhen). Given his childhood enthusiasm for the Lee / Kirby FF, it made sense for him to take on Marvel’s flagship title. To take on the writing, penciling and inking the FF, he dropped all his other projects, including writing and penciling Captain America (eventually he would work on multiple books again). As far as I can tell, this is first time writing and handling all the artwork since his time at Charlton comics.

It’s pretty clear clear Byrne wants to restore the Fantastic Four to the classic Lee / Kirby template — it’s even in the story’s title (“Back to the Basics”). In this issue, at least, there’s no Franklin, and Alicia only makes a brief appearance. Reed is back to his bossy self, and he concocts a scientific solution to defeating the bad guys. I also don’t think it’s an accident the FF fought elementals that are cognates of their own abilities (lest you forget: Reed = water, Sue = air, Ben= earth, Johnny = fire). I’m not sure how many fans jumped on board with this issue, but Byrne made it very easy for new readers to catch up. If this book came out today, it would be a No. 1 issue with a dozen variant covers.

One oddity is the inking is credited to “Bjorn Heyn,” not Byrne. According to the internets, in those days creators were discouraged from having so many credits on any one issue. Times have changed.

Terry Austin inked the cover, which looks great.


What I liked

It’s hard not to gush about this issue after so much mediocrity over the last few years. It’s not perfect (more on that later) but it’s a well told story, with terrific art and lots of fun touches. Diablo is an interesting choice of villain; he’s a throwback to the Lee / Kirby years but not as consequential as Dr. Doom or Galactus. You could see the Mole Man or Red Ghost in this story as well.

Like a lot of Lee / Kirby issues, this one starts with members of the FF out on the town, and as in many of those issues, Sue is doing something pointedly feminine (she’s usually getting her hair down or buying clothes). Byrne at least has a cheeky spin on the trope:

We also get a Kirby-like shot of Reed in his lab (and note his updating of the Baxter Building’s surroundings):

And a here’s a fun scene of Diablo in full Snidely Whiplash mode:

There’s a lot of striking panels throughout, and they hint at what’s to come. Here’s a sample of a few of them (one for each of the FF:

What I didn’t like

Byrne can at times resort to cliches (“shell-like ears” in the above panel will reoccur over and over) and be unnecessarily expository. Do we really need Sue to explain that she’s using her powers in a new way? And would she really call Ben “the Thing?” It feels like Byrne is bending over backwards for new (and very young) readers.

We also get a return of Reed-is-a-jerk, which I assume is Byrne’s attempting to reestablish the team’s hierarchy, but it is very unwelcome:

Byrne also brings back Frankie Raye, Johnny’s erstwhile girlfriend, which seems forced, given how she dumped him in issue 204:

As we shall see, Byrne has plans for Frankie, and so wants her back in Johnny’s life, but this is pretty awkward (and melodramatic):

I’m not sure if this is the fault of Byrne or editor Jim Salicrup, but why do we need an editor’s note telling us who Iceman is:

But we have to look up the issue when Diablo was apparently killed? (It’s FF 194)

Lastly, I didn’t love Dr. Strange’s archaic speech (and thought) patterns. Did he talk like this in his own book back then?

Anything else?

A house ad for the first Superman-Spiderman crossover (which I don’t think I ever read):

Overall

Happy days are here again!