Fantastic Four 215
“Blastaar!”
Published November 1979
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Carl Gafford
Editor: Wolfman
Cover: Ron Wilson and Joe Rubenstein


Synopsis

The issue opens with the Fantastic Four battling an explosion in the lab of Dr. Randolph James, a friend of Reed’s, whose experiments into evolution are going haywire. Meanwhile, Blastaar enters the Baxter Building from the Negative Zone, and the FF rush to confront him. A long battle ensues, and Blastaar escapes. Reed then gets a call from Dr. James, who has been assaulted and needs help. When Reed arrives he find James has used his evolutionary device to evolve himself into an advanced being.

What’s going on here?

This issue took me by surprise. This is Marv Wolfman’s last issue as a full writer of the FF (he just plots the next issue), and following the very long and elaborate Sphinx/Galactus arc and Annual 14, I just assumed he would mail it in with a by-the-numbers story. Instead, this is one of the best issues of Wolfman’s FF run, as the slightly odd Dr. James subplot delivers a genuine surprise at the end. We knew something was up with him but I will fully admit I was not expecting him to turn into this:

Instead of the main event in this comic, Blastaar then serves as a mildly interesting distraction. Of the two main Negative Zone villains, Annihilus is by far the more compelling, and Blastaar mostly takes up space. Here, Wolfman takes advantage of that to occupy the FF (and the readers) with a satisfying fight scene before the big reveal. (Although it should be said we never get an explanation of how Blastaar can just stroll in from the Negative Zone). Overall the issue is well paced with nice moments of character development, while Byrne and Sinnott do an outstanding job on the art.

The cover is by Ron Wilson and Joe Rubenstein, who is making his Fantastic Four debut. Rubenstein will go to have an incredibly long and prolific career, inking just about every comic character created by Marvel or DC, but never had a steady run on the FF.


What I liked

This issue reveals how good Byrne is at constructing action sequences (as if we had much doubt), like in these panels. Note how the perspective changes in the bottom three panels to create the illusion of Blastaar falling.

It’s not just action, where Byrne excels, either. I really like this quiet sequence, where the dynamic shifts in angles keeps our attention in what could have been a few dull, expository panels.

And I really liked this image:

What I didn’t like

It’s been a while since we had a Reed-is-a-Jerk moment, but Wolfman gives us one on his way out:

James’s assault doesn’t make much sense. These thugs just show up because they hear he’s a scientist? And it happens very conveniently just after the FF’s visit.

This is a great splash page but it reminds me that whenever Blastaar appears, he seems anatomically lacking in, ahem, certain respects. Note the cover as well. Maybe that’s why he’s so mad all the time.

Lastly, Wolfman cannot let the Herbie subplot drop:

Anything else?

This ad is awesome. I am pretty sure I had the Hammerhead action figure.

Overall

A pretty good comic book