Fantastic Four 224
“The Darkfield Illumination”
Published August 1980
Writer: Doug Moench
Pencils: Bill Sienkiewicz
Inks: Pablo Marcos
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: George Roussos
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Cover: Sienkiewicz and Joe Sinnott


Synopsis

The Fantastic Four, home at the Baxter Building, discover that a strange red mist over New York makes their powers erratic. They trace the source of the mist to the Arctic, and depart in their Pogo Plane. While making a reconnaissance, the Human Torch loses power and is captured by what appear to be Vikings with high-tech weapons. Eventually the rest of the team is confronted by the Vikings, and after a skirmish, decide to become prisoners in order to find Johnny and uncover the mystery behind their failing powers. The source is revealed to be Korgon, a Norseman who encountered a meteor-like object that granted him powers and (apparently) very long life. Exiled from his village, he gathered a following and founded a settlement under an ice dome in the far north. He tells the FF he is now dying and demands they help him or lose their lives.

What’s going on here?

This is a clunky, old-school adventure that feels like it came from golden age of science fiction. It’s probably the kind of story Doug Moench was very comfortable spinning, given the dozens of similar stories he wrote for Warren books like Eerie and Creepy. Unfortunately, the set-up of this story — the FF must investigate a strange presence on the Arctic — reads very similarly to the John Byrne-written story in issues 220 and 221, and it’s odd that editor Jim Salicrup didn’t object. And like a lot of those early sci-fi stories, this one is full of plot holes and unexplained inconsistencies that end up distracting from what could be a fun story.

The pencils from Bill Sienkiewicz are generally solid and the comic is inked by Pablo Marcos, filling in for Joe Sinnott, who we are told is busy working on the Superman / Spider-Man crossover (Sinnott does ink the cover). Instead of a letters page or Bullpen Bulletins, the comic includes a number of pinup pages, some recycled and some new (which we will see later).

What I liked

Sienkiewicz has some strong images, here, like this parallel structure of Johnny in the same basic pose in consecutive panels.

I liked this sequence too:

What I didn’t like

Sienkiewicz also has some ill-conceived sequences with no transition from one scene to another, like here:

And here:

One of the unexplained oddities in the story is the Vikings speaking the same language as the FF:

How does the Fantasticar fit inside the Pogo Plane?

Lastly, while I respect the Marvel tradition of inserting its own comics into its stories, having Sue reading Franklin an issue of Moon Knight — the same month Moench’s Moon Knight No. 1 debuted — feels a bit much (and is that a poster of Jeff Lynne on the wall?).

Anything else?

For unexplained reasons, this issue has an alternate version of the cover of FF 3 by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, as well as a new FF pinup (probably a unused cover) from Sienkiewicz and Terry Austin, which looks pretty snazzy.

Additionally, there are four pages of vintage Kirby pinups (oddly, there were two of Johnny and none of Ben). Here are three of them:

Overall

Pretty forgettable