Fantastic Four 132
“Omega: The Ultimate Enemy!”
Published December 1972
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Constanza
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jim Steranko and Frank Giacoia

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four (minus the Invisible Girl), Quicksilver and the Inhuman royal family confront the monstrous Omega, later revealed to be the personification of the Inhumans’ racial animus toward the Alpha Primitive underclass. The comic ends with Medusa joining the FF to replace Sue, and Johnny and Crystal breaking up.

What’s going on here

There’s a lot of action and angst in this comic, but the biggest developments come at the end. Medusa joins the team —or to be accurate, declares she is joining the team — in an arrangement that lasts more than 20 issues, a surprisingly long time. Again, it was another decision by Roy Thomas to shake up the status quo he inherited from Stan and inject some new dynamics into the team. Medusa also uses an Inhuman device to generate new costumes for herself and Johnny (Ben passes and when it’s aimed at Reed, nothing changes, which is mildly amusing).

The other major development is the official end of the romance between Crystal and Johnny after approximately 70 issues. Johnny’s obsession with Crystal frequently propelled his character and FF stories, to the point here it seems he had no other interests or character traits. Yet another example of Roy shedding the past for something new.

The cover was by Jim Steranko, with inks by Frank Giacoia, the last, and I think weakest, of the three covers he did to spell John Busecma.

There was also slight change to the interior art, flagged in a letters column an issue or two back: Instead of doing fun pencils, starting in this issue Buscema would be doing rough breakdowns, with Sinnott doing finishes. Since Sinnott had a pretty assertive inking style anyway, I’m not sure how much difference it makes. The change was made to give Buscema time to also draw Conan the Barbarian, giving him four regular books a month (the FF, Conan, Thor and a monster comic, which varied).

What I liked

The break-up of Johnny and Crystal was handed with admirable subtlety. Johnny clearly got his anger out last issue, so by the time Crystal tells him its over, he puts on a brave face and even mentions rekindling things with long-forgotten Dorrie Evans. But the final panel says everything. All in all, a pretty mature ending to a significant relationship.

What I didn’t like

In my blog post dealing with the last issue, I took Roy to task for seemingly siding with the Inhumans in their fight to put down the revolt of the Alpha Primatives, their servant class. Given that Roy has skewered South Africa’s apartheid regime in issue 119, championing the oppressors seemed inconsistent at best.

I should have given Roy more credit, because in the end, the Inhumans are shown the error of their ways. Omega, the villain, is powered by the Inhumans’ guilt and racial hatred — it’s not entirely clear which — toward the Alpha Primatives, channeled by a device constructed by Maximus the Mad. But while Roy’s sentiments are laudable, the effort feels ham-handed and falls flat.

First, leaving aside the implausibility of a machine that turns racial animosity into a living thing, Omega is designed just like a standard super villain, complete with a mask. There’s nothing about him or his powers that suggest his origin or purpose.

Secondly, Reed discovers the secret by eavesdropping on Maximus, who just happens to be ranting about his plan while leaning outside his window. It’s too convenient and not ingenious enough for Reed. And thirdly, of course Maximus is behind it all. If there’s an Inhumans’ story, Maximus is the bad guy. It’s predictable and boring.

Lastly, nothing seems to change. The Alpha Primatives return underground and the Inhumans go on being the superior race. Maybe we’ll learn more about how Inhuman society evolves in future comics but at the end of this issue, all that happens is that Inhumans feel a bit guilty.

Also, is there a word missing on the cover? “Until Last Destroy You?” I’m sure someone could win a No-Prize explaining that away.


Anything else?

Fun letter comparing the FF to the Beatles. Who is Allen Klein in this analogy?

Overall

A valiant effort that falls short