Fantastic Four 218
“When a Spider-Man Comes Calling!”
Published February 1980
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Pencils: John Byrne
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Ben Sean
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Al Milgrom and Joe Rubinstein


Synopsis

Disguised as Spider-Man, the Trapster infiltrates the Baxter Building and subdues the Human Torch and Thing before letting the rest of the Frightful Four in. After capturing the Invisible Girl, they corner Mr. Fantastic but Spider-Man, whom they had previously abducted, breaks free, and joins Reed in battling the bad guys. Soon, the rest of the FF join them in defeating the Frightful Four. 

What’s going on here?

This is a pretty pedestrian comic, which is a sequel to an equally pedestrian comic, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man 42, also written by Bill Mantlo. In that issue, The Frightful Four (who have added Electro to their ranks) lure Spider-Man into a trap by pretending to be the Human Torch. Now, with Spider-Man captured, they figure to use the same trick to take out the Fantastic Four.

That Peter Parker issue has a cool cover by Mike Zeck and Joe Rubinstein, but not much else going for it:

Overall, FF 218 is a very by-the-numbers story, in which the FF repel bad guys who invade the Baxter Building. We’ve seen probably a dozen variants of this plot over the last 200+ issues, and this one is as forgettable as most of the others.


What I liked

One fun aspect of the Frightful Four is their constant bickering, and Electro adds an even more curmudgeonly member. The Trapster gets most of the spotlight in this issue and is surprisingly effective at neutralizing half of the FF, even while holding a grudge at everyone who made fun of him when he was Paste Pot Pete.

This is not a great issue for John Byrne, who must have provided only rough pencils for Joe Sinnott to finish, but I liked this image of three villains:

And this one of the Thing being electrocuted:

It’s been a while since we had some wacky credits. These are all building themed, since the splash page is of the Trapster ascending the Baxter Building dressed as Spidey. (It’s possible only New Yorkers would get the co-opted joke).

Lastly, this was a fun sequence:

What I didn’t like

I’ve already outlined my critiques of this issue. There’s nothing awful in it, just not much that’s worth celebrating. It feels a bit like Mantlo is stalling for time as the fill-in guy, stretching out his Spider-Man story before the new creative team takes over next issue.

Anything else?

Some more house ads

Overall

A gentleman’s C