Fantastic Four 163
“Finale!”
Published July 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Don Warfield
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Bucker and Sinnott

Synopsis

In hyperspace, the Thing battles Arkon’s champion Gaard, who is trying to prevent Ben from closing a window that would allow a nuclear war on three realities to power Arkon’s world. Meanwhile, Johnny and Reed Richards from an alternative Earth, whom in that world became the Thing, battle and defeat Arkon. With the help of Mr. Fantastic, Ben defeats Gaard, who is revealed to be a mind-controlled Johnny Storm of that world.

What’s going on here?

When I first began this blog, I was eager to read through the legendary Lee / Kirby run, and to revisit the Byrne run, my first introduction to the Fantastic Four. But I was apprehensive about the issues in between, from FF 103 to 231, which — despite the work of stellar artists like John Buscema and George Perez — seemed like a repository of a lot of mediocre dreck. And symbolic of that mediocrity to me was Gaard, a villain I knew only from the cover but that seemed utterly ridiculous and unworthy of the grandeur of the Fantastic Four. The team that battled Dr. Doom and Galactus is now fighting an outer-space hockey goalie? Seriously?

After reading this comic, my worst fears were confirmed. This is, in fact, a pretty lame issue and Gaard is silly concept, an apparent ripoff of the Silver Surfer and Black Racer, two Jack Kirby-designed characters that travel through space with sports-like apparatus. As Gaard fights Ben, there are sports-adjacent references aplenty, from Ben having to wear skate-like devices to move through hyperspace to the puck-like gizmo he needs to hurtle through Gaard’s “goal.” The sportsball nature of it all is summed up here:

I couldn’t find any documentation about the creation of Gaard, just a comment in a blog that Roy Thomas intended him as a parody of Black Racer and that he later regretted using such a silly concept in a story with a heavier tone. Which make sense, but it’s unfortunate because up until this comic, the four-issue arc was actually pretty fun, with a zillion of Thomas’s ideas colliding and heading toward what could have been a satisfying ending. But the result is an anti-climactic finish that feels slapped together, with both Reed and Sue on the sidelines, Johnny and Earth-2 Reed defeating Arkon without too much trouble and, as seen above, the nexus closing with a whimper.

My only hope is that this comic is the low point of the stretch between Lee / Kirby and Byrne, and everything from here is an improvement.

One more note: Don Warfield is credited as colorist, his first and as far as I can tell, last Fantastic Four credit.

What I liked

Gaard’s dialogue is just completely over the top and bombastic. Not sure where he learned to talk like this, particularly if he’s that Earth’s version of Johnny.

This reunion between Ben and Alicia was sweet and fun.

What I didn’t like

Alongside the aforementioned Gaard nonsense is the question of his identity, which is hinted at by both Ben and Gaard as they battle, but ultimately plays no role in the outcome, and is instead a meaningless footnote. (Gaard would later remerge as the super-powered villain Vangaard in Fantastic Force, a 1990s FF spinoff that I know virtually nothing about.)

The defeat of Arkon is also perfunctory and unsatisfying. As a character, Arkon never seems fully developed and in this story appears to be like a King knockoff dressed as a barbarian.

Anything else?

A lengthy note in Bullpen Bulletins announced the return of Jack Kirby to Marvel. It says nothing about where he went or why he returned, which is perhaps to be expected, but hints at the creation of the Eternals and notes Kirby will be taking over Captain America.

Overall

Disappointing on multiple levels